Zone Conferences with the Area President!

It was such a fantastic week and I was able to learn so much! 

On Monday we were able to meet with a few of our great investigators.  We were able to start by eating some really good peach cobbler and then we were able to teach the plan of salvation!  It was really good and we committed them to come to read Alma 40-42 and to pray about the truth of it.  They were able come to all 3 hours of church and they really seemed to like it.  The talks were really great and we were able to have a good 3rd hour where we spoke about the Self Reliance program.  On Monday night, we were able to meet with a new investigator that we found on the street a few days before.  He is really open to learn and wants to find out if there is a good, in his words, "I want to believe."  We spoke about the Restoration and he liked it, we are going back tonight.

On Tuesday we were able to meet with someone else who was given to us by the sisters.  She is older and we are really trying to find out what her needs and concerns are.  She has been taught everything and just has a few things that are holding her back from being baptized.  I really think she can get there, she is reading daily and she is praying about baptism.  We were also able to meet with another of our families as well. They are striving to have family prayer together every single day and they told us they were all going to come to church. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we were able to have the Zone Conferences with Elder and Sister Johnson.  They along with the Szabadkais were able to instruct us so well and I really left the conferences being filled with the spirit.  Some of the quotes from him that I really liked, were, “We can’t learn the Gospel without living it…In order for someone to have a converting testimony he/she needs to live what he/she is learning" (he compared this to wanting to go to the NBA without putting in any work),  “In order to understand teaching, we need to understand learning... We are not here to just teach the gospel but to ensure that these people are learning”,  “Being a perfectionist is a losing proposition, you can’t do it, but Christ can."  Sister Johnson said,  “Life is hard, not the Gospel”, “We need to obey with honor and exactness”, “We can’t change others, but we can change ourselves, and when we change ourselves, others will be sure to follow.”  President was able to speak about how as missionaries we are participating in every part of the harvest, not just planting the seeds or harvesting, but every part (and every part is so wonderful).  Sister Szabadkai was able to speak of Humility and how to combat pride.  We spoke about some of the points in my favorite talk, "Beware of Pride" by President Benson.  It was amazing.  On Wednesday, President Johnson had an interview with elder Lowe and I and then us together and then he was able to come and inspect the apartment (he said he was impressed).

On Friday, we were able to have the MLC meeting and there president Johnson spoke on leadership.  He said that the way he can tell if a mission is good is if he would feel comfortable having one of his grandchildren serve there.  He then told us that he would love to have one of his grandkids serve here. I am so blessed to be here with the Szabadkais, they are amazing!   We were also able to give a training and it went well. 

I love you all so much and have a great week! 

Gentry elder

Transfers!!! (this was from his letter on 3/12/2018)

Well it was a really great, busy week! Transfer weeks are always some of my favorite weeks of the transfer because you get to see so many new faces and get you meet all of the new missionaries.  We were able to pick up 6 wonderful new missionaries at the airport on Tuesday!  It is 3 elders and 3 sisters and they are full of fire and ready to go!  We were able to go streeting a little bit and I am always so impressed at how sincere the testimonies are of the new missionaries.  They do not know how to say a lot, but what they say is true and is from the spirit, you do not need to be a master at the language to be a great missionary that is for sure.  That night, we were able to have a wonderful meal provided to us by sister Szabadkai!  We were able to go around the table and bear testimonies and it was a really wonderful experience (all the new missionaries bore it in Hungarian which was so cool to see).  Then elder Lowe and I took them up to the castle in Buda and there we read the dedicatory prayer for Hungary given by President Nelson in 1987.  

On Wednesday, we were able to give a training to all of the to be trainers.  After we trained them, the new missionaries came in and were paired with their trainers, it literally feels like it was just yesterday that I was a new missionary and they told me that I would be going to serve in Győr with elder Ure!  After that, we took the Érd sisters to their apartment (they are whitewashing it so they had many bags).  That day we did a lot of planning, etc. and that evening we were able to have an absolutely amazing dinner with the departing missionaries!  Sister Szabadkai made hortobágyi palacsintas and they are literary so so so good, I will have to make them when I come home, they just will not be as good as Sister Szabadkai's cooking!  That night we took the departing missionaries up to Gellért hill and took some pictures.  

On Thursday, we had a really wonderful meeting with the Szabadkais where we discussed the preparation we will need to do for President Johnson's visit this upcoming week!  President showed us this really motivational video that Lou Holtz (I forgot how to properly spell his name, he coached at Notre Dame, works for ESPN, and has a lisp).  It was really inspirational and it got us really pumped up! 

We were not able to meet with a ton of people this last week but the teachings we had were great!  We were able to find a new investigator yesterday and the other investigators are progressing well.  I love you all so much, have a great week!!  

Interviews and Baptism!!!

It was a really really great week!  I am so happy to be able to stay in Buda again with Elder Lowe!  I love it here so much and I truly think that we are going to see a lot of miracles this upcoming transfer, I am really excited.  I love it here so much and I love being able to be around the Szabadkais because I can learn so much from them.  They are great examples to me and I am grateful that I can be with them.  

We were able to have interviews this week up here in Buda.  Elder Lowe and myself were able to have a 45 minute meeting with each of the companionships in the mission.  We were able to review all of their area books and every missionary planner and were able to review the principles of organization, planning and accountability.  It was super amazing and I was able to learn a lot of things from the missionaries as well.  We have such a good mission the missionaries really do strive hard to be diligent.  President Szabadkai has done a really great job of creating a culture of obedience that is super amazing to be a part of.  In one of the trainings a little while back (I may have already quoted this but I love it so much), President said that the key to happiness is 1. Faith in Jesus Christ 2. Obedience 3. Work.  I love that so much and it is something that I want to apply for the rest of my life.  As president says, " If you are not happy as missionaries, then I would ask you to repent!" I love that council so much!  If we are not happy, then we need to change something in our lives to be in better harmony with the Savior and his teachings!

We were able to have Krisztina's Baptism on Saturday and that was super amazing!  Csepai András baptized her, and the bishop confirmed her on Sunday!  She was able to bear her testimony in Sacrament meeting and it was so amazing, she is so amazing and so prepared.  Yesterday we had a Zone Day for the Budapest Zone!  We got our goal!  We played basketball and football at the stake center, and then we watched the movie Megamind, it was funny.  Yesterday evening we had family night at the Szabadkais!   We had some investigators there.  We spoke about overcoming problems in Christ, we read about Ether and also talked about the Brother of Jared.  We also spoke about Baptism.  It was great!  Now we are going to the airport to pick up the new missionaries, it will be awesome!   I love you all so much, have a great week!

Gentry elder