11/28 - 7 Member Presents and 7 New Investigators, LET'S GO!!!

It was a super awesome week this last week (I am talking like probably the best week that I have had on my mission).  Like the title of the email says, we were able to get 7 member present lessons this last week and we were able to get 7 new investigators on top of that.  It was super awesome.!

 We were able to meet with the American/Chinese/Hungarian family and that went really well.  They are really open what we have to say and really want to keep meeting with us more.  We also had this other lesson with another lady hat went absolutely amazing (after the lesson Elder Olsen turned to me and said that it was the coolest lesson he had ever been in on his entire mission).  A bit of background regarding this lady, about 2 weeks ago we tracted into her and were able to talk a little bit about her beliefs, etc.  We gave her a book and were able to get her number (I have made it a rule that if we give someone a book we also have to get their phone number because President Szabadkai does not want us giving out Books of Mormon just to give them out for the number).  We were able to get her number and set up another time to come back and teach her.  When we came back, she showed us her Book of Mormon and the thing was marked up to high heaven with tons of little sticky notes sticking out from a bunch of different pages.  We were flipping out as she told us that she had been studying from the index a ton and she absolutely loves it!  Throughout the lesson she kept filling in the pieces.  Like we would say, "when people reject the prophets and Christ takes his gospel from the earth", then she would finish the sentence with "then when the people are more humble, God restores his truth and calls another prophet to teach his people".  She kept saying that she was feeling this incredible feeling and when I shared the 1st vision with her she was shivering with goosebumps because she said it felt so good!  SOOOO amazing!  Then when we had her read Moroni 10:3-5, we noticed that she had already marked it up and that she had been looking for something like this her whole life and she just had not found it yet (literally straight out of Preach my Gospel!).  It went so well and we are meeting with her again tonight and are hoping to get her on a specific baptismal date!  Then we were also able to meet with another lady we’ve been meeting with regularly this last week and that went really great.  She is progressing well but did not come to church because she has been pretty darn sick lately.  That was a bummer especially because we will now have to move her baptismal date back a bit but are still hoping to get her baptized before Christmas!  It was super cool, in the lesson with her, I kind of had like a little aha moment with Hungarian.  I was saying stuff that I realized that I did not know I knew how to say and it was actually sounding Hungarian and not just a translation in my mind of English to Hungarian.  The language is coming along and the Lord is really helping me out a ton. 

My desire to share this gospel increases on the daily and I just want to share it with everyone.  I know that if I open my mouth, then the Lord will never let me fail and even though it can be hard and scary at times to preach to a bus stop of Hungarians, I know the Lord had my back and I know that even though the people don’t know it when I am talking to them, I know that this is the most important thing they will ever hear in their lives.  I love you all so much and will keep talking to everyone and working as hard as I can!  Keep being the best family in the world!

Gentry Elder

Nov 14 - We have a baptism date!!!

Hey everyone!  I hope you all had a great week and I express my heartfelt condolences for the loss to Pomona, that stinks and I know the feeling.  It was a good week this last week, however, I will be totally straight up with you all it was probably the hardest week I have had on my mission, but I am really starting to appreciate the hard and sucky days because those are the ones you grow from and become a better person.  It was a good week though.

Last P-day was super cool we were able to go to this really amazing church  (Székes Egyház if you want to look it up) and I was able to go and take a lot of pictures.  Then we were also able to go up into the mountains for a little bit and that was super pretty.  Tuesday was zone conference and that went really well.  I said the closing prayer and I always get really scared for stuff like that but I thought I did a really good job ( I even blessed the food in a way just unique to the Hungarian Language).  Then after zone conference (we have 5 zones by the way and I think a little over 100 missionaries right now but about 25 missionaries in our zone) we got our flu shots.  The day after on Wednesday, I felt like poop and was pretty exhausted.  I don’t know if it was from the flu shot or what but I was dead.  At lunch that day I was so dead and was not looking forward to the 6 hours of proselyting we had ahead of us. I decided to just suck it up and not complain and let’s just say we were very honored to say the least.  We were ringing this building and as Elder Olsen was ringing I decide to stop these people walking on the side walk.  They were wearing Bubba Gump Shrimp sweatshirts and I thought that was super cool.  I started speaking to them and the guy obviously did not know Hungarian and stopped me after a few lines to tell me he just spoke English.  He is from Iowa and his wife is from Pécs.  They live in China and I think are quite successful.  He got a Book of Mormon from a Marriot in China and he and his wife are super interested in what we have to say.  Before I even had to ask he told me where they lived and gave me his phone number.  We are meeting with them tonight and I am super excited.  We were also able to teach this other man that was super closed off at first about religion but as we kept talking to him invited us into his home and eventually opened up about how his dad died and how that was really hard for him and that is when he stopped being religious.  We were able to testify about life after death and the plan of salvation and he really opened up and invited to come back the next day.  It went great and we will meet with him again when he has more free time.  Finding is all that missionaries make it to be.  If you do it with a robotic mindset then you will not find anyone, but if you do it with the mindset of bringing people the restored truth and the gift of the gospel then you find and find A LOT!

 We got cancelled on a lot which really stunk but the lessons we did have went really well.  We were able to get one of our investigators on a December 10 bap date and we are very excited about that!  I really think she will be ready and have faith that the right thing will happen.  President challenged us to baptize someone this transfer and I have taken it to heart.  I will do all I am capable of doing and leave the rest up to the Lord!  I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!!!!!

Gentry Elder

Another beautiful week in Pécs

Hey all, I hope you had a super awesome week!  So, it was a good week this last week.  We got cancelled on a lot which really sucked but the lessons that we did have went super awesome.  The girl that we found a little bit ago (Henni) is progressing super well.  We assigned her to read Mosiah 24 and she said that she read it over and over again and can really see how it applies to her life!  We felt impressed on night to go and check on her and share a quick scripture with her.  We did so and said that right when we rang she was thinking about us and the Book of Mormon and how our little message was what she needed to hear (the spirit is pretty awesome).  We are really going to push for Dec 10 as her baptismal date.  It would be the coolest present ever and I know she can be ready.  We also have a ton of other investigators that we have set up to meet with this week and hopefully have a super solid week ahead of us!

So, like I mentioned in my audio recording, we were able to go on splits this week with the Koposvar Elders and I was with Elder Harris who is a 1st transfer.  I was super excited because I saw it as kind of a test to see if I could survive on my own.  We actually lived and it went super well.  We tracted, streeted, gave out a Book, got two phone numbers, gave service, and taught 2 lessons.  I feel like I understand more when I am forced to.  The gift of tongues is real and more and more I am seeing that I will learn Hungarian when the Lord wants me to learn Hungarian and not when I want to have it down.  It is hard but I am doing my best and I know that I am being honored for my efforts.  The hardest part is just not being able to relate to these people yet because I love them so much and I want to help them.  I just have to be patient, it will come with time!

Week Two in Pécs