Humility

Hello Everyone!!

I hope you all had a great week! :) We had a good week here in Érd. We had some really great programs with some of our investigators. Wednesday was cool. We were just sitting in English class when this young guy walks in. He is a guy that Sister Erlandsson and I had streeted a few weeks ago. Well, actually...he streeted US. He figured we weren't Hungarian so he came up and started talking to us and was really excited to hear we had a free English class. So we invited him, he didn't show up. Then a few weeks later we hear "Hey! Mormon girls!" And there was this guy again! He said he was bummed he couldn't come to the English class. We told him it was okay, we held it every week! He didn't realize it was every week and was excited he could still come. Anyways, hadn't seen or talked to him in a few weeks until he showed up on Wednesday. I told him he could introduce himself to the class and he basically just took over :) he introduced himself and then asked everyone else about themselves. Then he asked about "Mormons." Orsi (a member in the branch who always comes to English class) basically taught the whole Restoration. Then we talked about praying and how it is a way we can literally communicate with our Heavenly Father and how we have a living Prophet on the Earth today. It was pretty cool! Then after English class we had another little...I actually don't know what to call it in English but basically people are invited to stay and there is a little spiritual thought by a member in the branch. We only had tree people stay (this guy, Laci, and two other people). After the short spiritual message by the Branch President, we did some caroling. The two other people left but Laci stayed, listened and even sang a few with us! Then, he started asking questions about the Church. The Ward Mission Leader basically taught him all of Preach My Gospel! All of us missionaries just sat and watched in amazement as the branch just sat with him and answered all of his questions. We thought, "alright, Attila has this covered, we can just go now! ;)" Just kidding. But really it was so cool to just listen to them talk about the gospel. Laci said he would come back next week and we gave him our card! Hopefully we can start meeting with him and he can learn more about the gospel.

On Thursday, we had a really great program with a new investigator, Szofia. She originally wanted to meet for English (and still does) but was willing to talk about the gospel as well and even asked what seemed to be perfect questions. We taught her the Restoration and she was very open minded. She is so fun! I really loved talking with her! We had a program later that day with Ilona that also went well. We talked to her about the importance of obedience and prophets. Then she asked questions about baptism. She asked how it works, what to wear, etc. She isn't on bap date yet but she is so close. For both of those programs, I was nervous to be honest. But, I know that Heavenly Father had prepared them so well that they were successful programs. I know that the Spirit touched both of their hearts and did all of the teaching.

On Friday, we went carolling with the branch. That was fun! We had a bunch of the branch members standing and singing, with two missionaries going on and pass out cards with the kids handing out candy. Everyone thought the kids were so cute so were more willing to take our cards as well :) it was really fun to just go out and sing some Christmas songs! We even had a few people stop and just watch and listen for a little while. It was a great way to bring some Christmas spirit!

I really enjoyed my study about the Christ-like attribute humility this week. One idea that I read in both Preach My Gospel and True to the Faith is how "Humility is not a sign of weakness. it is a sign of spiritual strength" and "You can be both humble and fearless. You can be both humble and courageous." I loved those so much when I read those. This week, as things went a little better for us, I had to make sure to remember to thank Heavenly Father. The good programs we had, the great conversations we had with people on the street, etc...those are all thanks go Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As missionaries, we are just hear to provide the information. The Spirit is the whole who does all the teaching. Heavenly Father puts us in the places we need to be and helps us know the things we need to say to people. The more I have been on my mission, the more I realize that I need to work on humility. I really enjoyed being able to focus on it this week and think of ways that I can be more humble.

I reach half-way on my mission this week and it blows my mind. Missionaries always talked about how fast their mission goes and how they couldn't believe how fast it went. But really...I literally cannot believe that I am reaching half-way!! Just makes me want to work as hard as I can and have fun because before I know it I will be heading home...

I hope you all have a wonderful week! And if you haven't had a chance, you should check out this video. I just saw it this morning and it is incredible! http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

I love you all and miss you all! Sorry for those of you I didn't have a chance to respond to this week. Just know how much I appreciate hearing from you. I hope you all continue to have a wonderful Christmas season! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Some pics from last Sunday with Santa Claus :)

Patience (Türelem)‏

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a great week! :)

There is not a ton to report this week to be perfectly honest. As a mission, we were studying the Christlike Attribute patience. And I think here in Érd we definitely experience a week of studying patience! Sister Cox and I did 30 hours of finding and only had 3 lessons with investigators the whole week. But, it was still a good week! I felt as though I could apply my study of patience every day. We had a few streaks where no one would answer the door, and some other times where we could hardly finish our introduction before we were turned away. However, in Preach My Gospel I read that patience is "having the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated or anxious" and to be "accepting of God"s will and timing." I tried to keep this in mind throughout the week. Sister Cox and I were able to stay positive throughout the week and have faith that we would get some let-in's or at least be able to talk to a few more people each day. Every day we were able to still laugh, have fun and find the good moments! I am really grateful to be serving with Sister Cox and that we were able to both remain positive throughout the week. We were pretty exhausted by Sunday though and went to bed pretty early ;).

So here in Hungary, Santa comes on the 6th (kids leave their shoes out by the window and Santa comes and puts candy and things in the shoes of the kids who were good). In church on Sunday, we heard that Santa would be coming to primary. We were sitting in Sunday School and someone came in and pulled out all of the missionaries. We were led to the primary room where Télapó (Santa) was with all the kids. He pulled out individual goodie bags for each of us missionaries as well as the kids in primary! It was such a sweet surprise!

Also, Sister Cox and I decided we wanted to make our house a little more Christmas-y. We cut out a small Christmas tree from wrapping paper and taped it up to our wall! We also used some other wrapping paper and made little ornaments that we stuck to it. It was so fun. And its just an itty bitty thing but its so nice to have a little Christmas in our house! :) I love this time of year. I love the Christmas lights, the Christmas music, the Christmas traditions. Everything. And it is so special to be a missionary around the Christmas season. I am really grateful to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior. I am grateful for Him. I know He lives. I know that He died for each and every one of our sins, trials, pains and everything. He loves us more than we can even imagine! As it is the Christmas season and a tradition is to give gifts, we should remember John 3:16 that our Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift of all: His son, Jesus Christ!

Well, I hope you all have a great week. I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season. Thank you for all of your emails and prayers. They are so greatly appreciated!

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Tudás (Knowledge)‏

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a lot go on this week. Transfers were on Wednesday so we got up and went to Buda. It's always an adventure trying to haul suitcases from one train to the metro to the other train station but we made it! :) It was fun to see some of my MTC friends and friends from other places that I have served with. I even got to see two members from Békéscsaba that came to see all the missionaries.

My new companion is Sister Cox. She is great! She is from Utah, she is one of 11 kids and we get along really well. We have been working hard the past few days since we got together and I think we will have a great transfer together. We have been doing a lot of tracting the past few days and we have come across some really cool people. A few days ago, we were going for a few hours on this one street with no luck. Then we got to the very last house and we got let in by a really cute young couple! We started asking them some of the survey questions and got to talking to them a little. They said they would be interested in learning more so we gave them a Book of Mormon and got their phone number! Yesterday we went tracting as well. We got a few houses in and this lady let us in because "it was too cold!" So we went in and started talking to her a little bit and then her cute, old mom came in too. We told them a little about what we believe and gave them a Book of Mormon. They were happy to welcome us back next week! Those are just a few cool experiences that happened to us this past week! :)

I cannot believe that it is already December! Time is just going by so fast! I still feel like October just started!! I am excited though since it is the Christmas season and now I can listen to my Christmas music without feeling weird that it's too early (not that that would have stopped me! ;)). There is a really cool Christmas Initiative that the Church is doing right now. Everyone should go check out christmas.mormon.org and tell me what it looks like! :) Also, everyone should check out Youtube on December 7!! :)

This week we studied the Christ-like attribute knowledge. There were a few things that stuck out to me. The first thing was from "True to the Faith." It says, "ask your Heavenly Father to help you know what He would have you learn and do." That is one thing that I tried to do this week was ask Heavenly Father what I needed to learn. Sometimes, there was a specific scripture that stuck out to me that helped me for the day. This is something that I want to continue to really try and do. I want to just think about what I am reading and figure out why exactly I need to be reading it and allow the Spirit to guide me to learn what Heavenly Father needs me to learn. One thing that I have gained a huge testimony of, that was strengthened even more this week, was how every time we read the scriptures, we learn something new. Again in "True to the Faith" it says, "You will rediscover the treasures of the scriptures again and again, finding new meaning and application in them as you study them at different stages of life." I have read 1 Nephi many times in my life ;) but I have noticed each time I read them, a different verse sticks out to me, or I read a verse and think of it in a different way. I love in the quote how it says you will rediscover "treasures." It just puts an image in my mind of how wonderful and important the scriptures really are!

hóember- snowman
jég - ice
kukorékolni - to crow (looked that one up because we have a rooster in our neighborhood that crows. all. the. time. :))

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you again to those who email me! It means so much. Thank you for all of your prayers as well! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Happy Thanksgiving!‏

Sziasztok Mindenki!!

I hope you all had a great week. We had an awesome week here in Érd! Both companionships finished out the transfer strong and were super excited. Church was incredible on Sunday. There were 8 investigators there in total. I sat with Ilona and her boyfriend, János. She LOVED it!!! I saw her sit forward during the last talk and was really focusing. Then afterwards when she was getting ready to leave she started to tell me how much she loved it! I was so happy to hear that! We also had this guy, Áron show up to church. We had tracted into him last week and he didn't really seem interested. We even just gave him our card as we were leaving and casually invited him to church if he wanted to. I was SO surprised when I saw him walk in. It was really exciting though! :) It was also our first week as 3-hour church and it was great. The lessons were so good and the Spirit was just so strong.

So we got our transfer calls this morning. I will be staying in Érd and getting a new companion, Sister Cox. I talked to her once when I was in Buda and she seemed really nice. I think we will have a great transfer together! I am really sad to see our current District being separated but I am excited to meet new people, learn new things and have new experiences. It will also be fun to go to Buda tomorrow and see all of the other missionaries! :) I have learned so much this transfer and will always cherish the wonderful memories that we have made.

This week was fun. Elder Whiting and Anderson are so funny. They surprised us with a "10 Days of Transfers" (equivalent of 12 days of Christmas). They gave us some gag gifts with funny notes to go along with them, each day. It has been so fun serving with them. Elder Anderson will be staying with me in Érd though so that will be fun to have one person I know with me next transfer! :)

I have been reading in the new Ensign this month from Conference. I love it!!! I have almost finished it. I was trying to think of one that stuck out to me the most to write about this week but honestly, they were just all so great! This week for our Christ-like Attribute we studied virtue which was really interesting. This coming week we will be studying knowledge which I am excited for. I also, this week, want to focus on Thanksgiving. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it this year. I knew it was coming but I just haven't really thought about it. All I have thought about is transfers. But this week I really want to focus on what I am grateful for. A few weeks ago, I wrote in my journal just about all of the blessings in my life and the things I am grateful for. It was a really cool experience. I noticed the more I wrote, the more things came to my mind. I didn't write very much because we have so many blessings we can't even count. I think I want to try that again this week and see what new blessings I recognize. It is really great to see how trials and hard times were blessings too.

Well, sorry this is kind of a short one. I will update you all a little more next week! I hope you all have a wonderful week and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Charity and Love (Jósívűség és szeretet)

Hi everyone!!

I hope you all had a great week! Not a ton to report from here this week, actually. We had a few good programs. Our best one was on Friday for sure though. It was with that family that I wrote about last week (the one who we tracted and it took a while to finally meet with but it went so well...András, Éva and Tibor). We taught them the Plan of Salvation. That program was another testimony builder to me of how the Spirit is the real teacher. We taught it to them and my Hungarian was...understandable...but not the best haha but somehow they were still able to understand and feel the Spirit. We asked them if they continued to learn these things and gained their own testimonies if it was true, if they would be baptized. They all said YES! I will keep you all updated on how that goes. We will meet with them again later this week. We were so excited and happy!

Earlier on Friday, we went to Buda for Zone Training. We had a great training on the importance of church and why it is important for everyone to go to church to gain their own testimonies. It was a great training because we were able to implement it that night with András, Éva and Tibor :). We actually offered that if they could only make it to the first hour, that was great. But Éva said she wanted to stay for the whole three hours! :) We offered to meet them and walk with them to church. She about jumped out of her seat and came over and hugged us and kissed us each on the cheek! :)

Yesterday we were able to travel to Pest for Stake Conference. It was a great Conference. There were soooo many people there. All of us missionaries had to sit in a separate room. They actually released the Stake Presidency and called a new one. It was really special because we got to hear all of their testimonies. We also got to hear from a member of the Seventy (...I don't remember his name) and then someone else (who I am also not totally sure who he was... :P). But the cool thing was...they were both BRITISH. It was so fun to hear British accents. It was also cool to hear the talks in English and then hear the translation afterwards. I was trying to see in my head how I would translate what they said (I am very glad that I didn't actually have to do it! ;)). Something that one of them said that really stuck out to me was "Real intent is the difference between eating bread/drinking water and partaking of the Sacrament." That one really made me think!

This week as a mission we were studying Charity and Love. That is one of my favorite attributes to study. I was able to re-read the talk that Elder Holland gave at this past conference, "Are We Not All Beggars?" which was my favorite from what I had heard. I love that he talks about how we need to help others. At the very end he says, "Although I may not be my brother's keeper, I am my brother's brother, and 'because I have been given much, I too must give.'" Life is hard. Everyone has trials and difficulties. As we read in Alma 7:11-12, Christ performed the Atonement, the greatest act of charity, so that he could perfectly understand every pain, trial and affliction that every single one of us will go through. Though we may not all understand each other's trials, Christ does. And we can be the tools in His hands to help those around us. We may not even know what others are going through. But as long as we are kind and loving to all and searching for opportunities to serve, we will also be serving Christ.

Sorry it is kind of a short email today. I don't really have a lot to report on. This is the last week of the transfer though so next week I will be writing on Tuesday with the transfer news!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. It really means so much.

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Sziasztok!

I hope you all had a great week! We had an awesome week in Érd. Things are finally starting to feel like they are picking up. There is still a ways to go of course but it is exciting to see stuff slowly starting to happen. We had some pretty great things happen this week.

On Monday, Ilona came to Family Night again! We were SO surprised to see her!!! She brought her boyfriend again too. That was so fun to have them there. I think they really enjoyed it. She was so cute. I snuck a cookie before we started (not so sneekily) and she pointed at me and told me to repent! I laughed SO hard!!! Then she went on and told Elder Whiting the 5 steps to the gospel of Jesus Christ. She said she had been studying. She is so cute I love her so stinking much.

On Tuesday, we had a really great day. We went out streeting and stopped to talked to this old couple. I started talking to the old guy and Sister Erlandsson was talking to his wife. We chatted for a bit and I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and share one of my favorite scriptures with him. We got their phone number and hopefully can set up a time to go over and meet with them. They were so sweet. After that, we headed over to a program. That program wasn't the best but that's okay. As we were walking back, we had some time before our next program. We decided we would stop by and see this lady we met a few weeks ago and then ended up tracting into her. We had gone over a few times but the time was never good for her and she always told us to come back later. We were walking by and saw her walking out with her bike and thought "ugh seriously again!" but as we walked by we waved at her and she asked us where we were going. She asked us if we had time and if we wanted to come in and chat! We thought "...wait. seriously?!" So we went in and chatted with her and her husband. They were both so sweet! Her husband was such a nice happy old guy. Sadly, he has Alzheimer's and I think that the wife, Marika, is really lonely because they have the same conversations over and over again. It was nice to finally be able to chat with her. We talked about our families and had a good time. We are going to try and go back again some time because she said that we were welcome to come over whenever! :) Later that night, we had another program. This was with a couple who Sister E and Sister Jensen (Sister Training Leader) met while we were on splits last week. We went over and gave them each a Book of Mormon which they were excited to get. We then taught them the restoration lesson. The Spirit was so strong in the room. They seemed to accept it all well. They are such a nice, kind couple. They have strong faith already and such a great feeling in their home. We are going back tonight to see them again so that is exciting! :) Then Tuesday night, we got packages from our families that the Elders brought back from Buda. That was amazing. I literally cried :) Aaaaaaand no judgements but I am totally listening to Christmas music already!

On Friday, Sister E and I got to go to Buda for interviews with President Smith. That was fun. I always love going into Buda (I love Buda and I LOVE riding trains :)) and I love President Smith so it was great to be able to chat with him for a little bit.

The rest of the week was pretty good too. Last night was really great. We had a program with András, Éva and Tibor (new investigators). We met András while tracting a few weeks ago and got his phone number. We have tried to meet with them a few times and it never worked out. We went over on Saturday for the 3 rescheduled time and he asked if we could come back on Sunday. As we were walking back on Sunday, I am not going to lie I was not totally sure we would meet with them. But when we got there, he let us in! We met his girlfriend and her son and got to know them a little bit. We taught them about the restoration. The spirit was so strong. It was such a testimony builder to me that the spirit does all the teaching, we just provide the information. I felt like my Hungarian wasn't the best and I was probably a little spazzy, but somehow the Spirit was strong and they were able to feel it. We gave them each a Book of Mormon (well, András and Éva...we had only brought two that night). We bore our testimonies about it. I told them how i Know this Book is true. Éva responded that she knew it was true too! It was amazing. Sister E and I came home pretty pumped last night! I will keep you all updated on them!! So exciting! :)

So this week for the Christ-like attribute we studied hope. At the beginning, I was trying really hard to think of the differences between faith and hope because a lot of the things I read and studied, their explanations were very similar. What I learned was that faith and hope, though different, work completely together. In Preach My Gospel it says that hope is "optimism, enthusiasm and patient perseverance." Faith, is the reason we do something. It is what moves us forward. Hope, is what keeps us optimistic and positive. It is what helps us to keep perspective.

I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for all of your love and support and prayers! Talk to you all next week! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Faith (hit)‏

Sziasztok!!

I hope you all had a great week and a great Halloween! :) Things are good here in Érd. Last week we had the Sister Training Leaders come for a day and that was fun. The Sister Training Leaders right now are Sister Jensen and Sister Daniels. They are such good missionaries. I hope I can be half as good as they are when I get to that point in my mission! :) (They go home in January!) I had the chance to go tracting for a few hours on Tuesday night with Sister Daniels. It was great. We were able to talk to a few people and give away a Book of Mormon. I then got to go streeting on Wednesday for a bit with Sister Jensen. It was really cool to be able to spend a little time learning from each of them.

On Saturday there was another Holiday - Day of the Dead. On that day, everyone goes to the cemeteries to visit the graves of their loved ones. I think it is so cool that they have a day that is dedicated to the memories of their loved ones who have already passed on.

On Sunday night, we had the opportunity to go to Budapest again for another baptism! A little girl in our branch got baptized. It was so great! There were so many people there. They had great talks and a BEAUTIFUL musical number. (Made me really grateful that they hadn't asked us missionaries to do another Musical Number. It wouldn't have been half as good as this one was ;)).

This week, as a mission we studied the Christ-Like Attribute Faith. I wish I had remembered my study journal to tell you all what I learned. But...I forgot it at home haha so I'll just tell you a few things that I remember about it. One thing that really stuck out to me was (not worded exactly like this) faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith. I thought that was so interesting! I reread that a couple of times. As I read it, I thought about how the things that we are teaching people are sometimes completely new and foreign to them. But as we teach it to them, they can start to develop their own faith. When we bear our testimonies, that is when the Holy Ghost can really bear witness to them, allowing them to establish and strengthen their own faith. I could go on and on about what I learned but that was one of the things that stuck out to me the most! I also love that faith is a principle of action. It takes effort on our part to strengthen our own faith. We can just have faith once and then leave it to let it grow itself. It's like we read in Alma 32 about the seed. You have to strengthen it and nourish it for it to grow. It is also a principle of action on the sense that, if it is Heavenly Father's will, we can do anything according to our faith. If you haven't read about faith in True to the Faith, I would recommend it! It is really cool! :) I have also been attempting to read Jesus the Christ (wow does that man use big words!!). It is really interesting in there too to read examples of faith in Christ's life too.

I hope you all have a great week. I am getting way too into the Christmas spirit too early haha they don't really celebrate Halloween here and the Christmas stuff is out already. So I am feeling really Christmassy haha but I always start too early on the Christmas music so I guess that's nothing too new ;)

Thanks to all of you who email me! It really means so much to hear from family and friends.  I love hearing how you are all doing! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx