It Snowed!

Well howdy everybody!  How is it going?  It was a really great week this week full of travel, lessons, and snow!  Monday, we met with these really cool people (older couple) that we tracted into last week.  The member we brought did a really good job with them and the lesson went pretty well.  I really hope we can keep meeting with them on a consistent basis and that we can see them going somewhere!  Then on Tuesday we were able to go to the old folks home again and do some more service for them.  They are some of the nicest people and we talked with this super nice man that has been sick all of his life (I know super sad) he has been alone for literally almost his whole life and it was really cool seeing him light up when we talked to him!  It is seriously such good language practice talking to these people because they speak so crazy it is not even funny, haha.  Then on Wednesday we had missionary leadership council in Budapest!  It was so good and it is so true that we as missionaries are truly here to teach repentance and baptize converts because that is the only way that we can make it back to live with our Heavenly Father again!  Then on Wednesday night, when we came back we did some tracting (almost got the cops called on us again, would have been like two or three weeks in a row, haha) we decided to look up an investigator that was from my first transfer.  He got a new job and is never home but we decided to look him up any way.  He was just getting home from a run and we were able to meet with him and his family!  Not only that but they also fed us dinner, haha, which was super super cool.  We were able to talk about the gospel and about the Book of Mormon and he promised us that he would read from it on a daily basis.  He speaks some English but not super incredible, and when we were leaving he said in English "you look, what is the word, weaker, since the last time that I saw you,"  totally roasts me, haha.  It was so funny and he was just trying to say that I had lost weight but it sounded so funny, hey what can I do, the life of a missionary right, haha.  Thursday was super good, we were able to teach our English class (talked about New Year’s resolutions) and we were also able to meet with one of our new investigators that we got last week. He is super cool and is going through a hard time, but he wants to meet more and knows the Book of Mormon surprisingly well (I think he had read it before).  Then on Friday and Saturday we were on splits in Tatabanya with Elder Leavitt and Elder Willis.  I was with Elder Willis from California who is a 2nd transfer.  The split went well and it even snowed while we there (it made me miss snow so stinking much).  It was so funny, I feel bad but whatever, I totally jacked up one of the Tatabanya Elder's bikes.  I kicked off the kick stand and hit two big bumps (almost died, JK, haha) and totally jacked up the wheel (oops, what can you do, I am a big man).  Then when we got home from splits we had an amazing last couple of days.  We had 4 member present lessons and were able to bring a member to two RCLA lessons.  I was able to give blessing at church on Sunday (ironically to the same one I gave one to my 1st transfer) and Roland came to church with the bishop which was good and can hopefully be a weekly thing from now on so that the kid does not have to ride his scooter like 3 miles every Sunday!  

I love you all so much and keep being the best family in the world!!!!!!!

Gentry Elder 

We have a baptismal date!

So I have like no time but it was a really good week and I will try to include the highlights. Roland is on for baptism and we are super-excited!  He's such a great kid.  So we were actually able to get a little bit of snow this last week.  It was not anything close to CO status but it was still super good!  It was so stinking cold this last week and the wind chill just makes it 10 times colder.  We are on bikes right now and it was pretty darn flipping cold.  Our tires are super flat and last transfer, when the assistants were here on splits, one of them was using our pump as a sword and broke it, I know right.  So we have been riding on flat tires in negative weather every day, good times good times.  

So we were able to do some really cool service in an old person home this last week!  One of the pushes from President Szabadkai is to be doing service every single day and it has been a lot of fun.  We had been trying to do our best to find locations where we could serve but many of them were closed or not super interested from what it looked like.  Then one of the coolest members in the ward that helps us out so much, told us that he worked at an old person home and that we could come whenever we wanted.  It is super cool to see these old people's faces light up when we start to talk to them and it is cool that we were literally making their day.  It is also some super good language practice, haha, because older people here speak totally different from the young people here.  

We were also able to get 7 member present lessons this week which was really good for us.  The members here are really willing to help us and support us and it is cool to see. We were not able to go on any splits this last week because two companionships had to cancel which stunk, but we have one this week so that should be super fun. 

Recently, our mission president shared a quote from Elder Bednar about doing the little things right.  Elder Ure and I have been focusing on this principle and we have seen how the wants to give us so many amazing blessings and so much of the time we just have to go a little bit further and work just a little bit harder and then the Lord will give us these amazing blessings.  Much of the time it is really easy to do the big things right but sometimes it is harder to always be doing the little things right as well.  I know that I am so far from perfect, but that is why I am grateful for the atonement and for the opportunity that I have to work on the things I need to everyday and become a better man and a better servant of the Lord.  I truly love being a missionary and I love this work! 

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

Boldog Új Évet!!! (Happy New Years)

What is up my awesome family!  The title of the email is Happy New Years btw.  I am so excited for the upcoming year and can't wait to give it all to the Lord (it is pretty awesome to think about huh?!).  Anyway, so it was a good week this last week.  We were able to go on splits with the Elders from Tatabanya and I was with the one and only Canadian legend Elder Leavitt.  It was so fun being able to be back with him and doing some legit missionary work (not just the mtc stuff, but that was still good practice).  We were able to teach Roland and the lesson went pretty darn well (we have each improved quite a bit from the good old mtc days, haha).  We did some look ups and I kind of got us lost but eventually found the way back.  Elder Leavitt is a stud and I really would love to serve with him in the future!  

New Years Eve was crazy, like I am talking out of control.  People just shooting mortars off of their apartment buildings constantly, kids setting off these bomb things in the street, little kids throwing the most powerful poppers that I have ever seen at each other, and lots and lots of alcohol ( I am very glad for the word of wisdom).  I had this super good chinese food on New Year’s Eve that was very similar to panda express but only like 3 dollars.  Elder Ure did not have any (I will be honest it was a bit sketchy) but despite them warming my meal up in the microwave I was so impressed! It literally sounded like a stinking war outside and needless to say I did not sleep much that night especially because some homeless drunk dude was screaming at the top of his lungs from 2:30-5:30, good times (but I was in bed at 10:30 which is the most important part).  

The work this week was still a bit slow due to the holidays but we were still able to have some really good teachings with people.  We were able to meet with Roland a few times this last week and the lessons went really well.  He is really growing in his love of the gospel and has been reading from the kid Book of Mormon by himself.  He is really coming to understand the doctrine and for an 11 kid his testimony is getting pretty strong.   He has been coming to church mostly every week and most of the time he rides his little scooter for like 3 miles to get there (so cool).  The kid is incredible and is so stinking funny. In one of our last lessons, we were talking about prophets and he asked me and Elder Ure which one was our favorite.  We said that we did not have a favorite but he kept on insisting so finally I told him that my favorite was President Benson and he asked why and I told him and he totally flipped out.  Needless to say President Benson is his new favorite prophet, haha.  We were also able to meet with this older lady that I tracted into my very first day in country.  She is super legit and is super nice.  We taught her the plan of salvation and it went really well.  She said that she is coming to church this week and we are going to try to get her on bap date this week.  

 

I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week!  2017 is going to be an awesome year! 

 Biking in the freezing cold!

Ward Family

Christmas Number One!

Well it was a really awesome week this last week.  I loved being able to talk to all of you and to see all of your amazing faces and hear your amazing voices.  It was definitely one of the highlights of my life!  Anyway, so it was a really good week but also a really hard week.  It was Christmas this week which obviously makes the work a lot harder to accomplish.  Many of the people that we tried to set up with said that they still want to meet but that it will have to be after the new year.  It is understandable but just still super frustrating.  We were still able to get a couple of member present lessons and were able to meet with quite a few of our RCLAs that we are trying to meet with a lot now.  We were not able to set up with a lot of people so we decided to do a lot of look ups.  I had the idea of making cookies so we decided to go and take them to a bunch of people and it turned out to be actually incredibly successful which was super cool. We were able to meet with like 4 RCLAs and they were all super happy to see us and accept our heartfelt cookies.  It was super fun.  

So here in Hungary the 24th is actually a bigger celebration than the 25th.  The name of it is Szent Este which translates to Holy Night.  They open up all of the presents on the 24th and it is a super big thing for them.  So anyway, this super awesome member that got baptized a few months ago invited us and the sisters to the branch house for super big dinner for the 24th.   It was so good and we had fish soup, stuffed cabbage, and super good süti!  Then we did some more look ups and had some success.  

Then on Christmas, it was just a day full of miracles.  We were able to meet with a couple of our RCLAs and even gave one of them a blessing and were able to go and meet with one of our other investigators.  The highlight of the day though (besides talking to all of you of course) was when we got let in to this guy’s mansion while tracting (ya’ that is right in the Hungary Budapest mission the missionaries tract on Christmas, take that South America missionaries).  He said how he has all of this money and material possessions but that he is just not truly happy and he does not know where to find it.  We testified of the power and truth of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and he is super excited to read it and wants us to keep meeting.

Needless to say, it was a great Christmas and was the best thing in the world being able to talk to all of you!  You are the best family in the world and I am so blessed to have you!  Keep being the best!  I love you all so much!

Gentry Elder 

Back in Győr

It was a super good week this week and it is good to be back in Győr with Elder Ure!  He is such a stud and it is going to be a fun next couple of months.  My 1st transfer it was hard to understand everything that Elder Ure would say and now I can understand him perfectly (now the challenge is just understanding those dang Hungarians).  It was super awesome being able to see everyone in the ward and everyone seemed really excited that I was able to come back!  It is a lot of work being the Zone Leader with Elder Ure, and a lot of responsibility, but the Lord has got my back so I am pretty excited and humbled.  It is so sweet, Elder Leavitt (MTC Companion) is my District Leader!  Our district now encompasses 3 cities and because Elder Ure and I are Zone Leaders, Elder Leavitt is our District Leader!   It is going to be fun going on splits a lot and being able to see so many different cities around the country.  We do a lot of traveling which is going to be cool and, rumor has it, because I have been in the country for less than 1 year, I may get a car, but we will see.  We had our MCM meeting this last week in Budapest.  I was super-scared because I was asked to give the spiritual thought on the sacredness of our calling and from what I had heard the meeting was going to be in Hungarian.  I read from Alma chapter 26 and explained how we are truly instruments in the Lord's hands and how that is such a sacred and incredible responsibility.  I thought I did a good job and after I sat down president complimented me on my Hungarian which was so nice of him to say.  I was worried that I would not be able to understand a lot of the Hungarian parts of the meeting but I was able to and really surprised myself which was cool (the gift of tongues is real).  I am super excited for our new zone challenge which is placing emphasis on member reactivity.  In Győr alone there are about 350 members but only 50 come to church every week so needless to say we have our work cut out for us!  

I do not have a ton of time so it is going to be another short one but I will really try to make them longer in the future. So, a couple of cool and funny stories.  I had a really neat experience where I talked to this girl on the bus for like 20 minutes and it was a great experience.  Elder Ure was sitting right behind me and when I got done talking to someone else on the bus he was going to come and sit by me but got blocked by these two guys and had to stay in his seat.  That is when this girl sat down by me and we had a super good conversation about the gospel, gave her a book, and got her number.  She said that she was having a really bad day before we talked and that the conversation basically made her day.  Then yesterday (this is funny) we were streeting this guy and he said that he had heard of the Mormons on Harry Potter.  I responded that those are Muggles and he was like, “Ya’ that is it!!!”   I responded that we are Muggles and Mormons but a little different.  I am so excited to skype it is not even funny!  Keep being the best!  I love you tons!!!!

Elder Gentry    

Last week with Elder Olsen

Youth in Pécs Ward

Pécs

Well, I didn't see this coming....

So, it was a really good and long week this last week.  As you all know, transfer calls were this morning and like I do with just about every other thing in my life I was stressing out about them, haha.  I did not know what to expect and really anything could have happened.  We really thought that Elder Olsen was going to be leaving and that I would be staying, however,  I had no clue who I was going to be getting and had the thought that I could possibly be training ( I really wanted to train but knew it was in the Lord's hands at what I would be doing).  A few nights ago, I had a really strange dream that I would be returning to Győr and that I would not be training but that I would be doing something else.  I did not really think anything of it and told Elder Olsen about it and we laughed a little bit.  I really had no clue what was going to happen but was like 95 % sure that I would be staying.  Last night I was super excited and did not sleep much.  If you are going to be going into a leadership position (training, zone leader, assistant, etc.) you get a call from president early in the morning.  If it is just a regular transfer call, it is from the assistants at about 8:30-9:30.  So needless to say this morning I was pretty anxious.  I worked out hard this morning, showered and waited anxiously for the call.  I went to go throw in my clothes in the washer and I hear Elder Olsen yell, "it is President!"  I was flipping out and thought for sure that I would be training.  Elder Olsen talks to him first and then gives the phone over to me.  I ask him how he is doing, etc. and then he says something about Győr.  I thought for sure I misunderstood him and thought Győr was a Hungarian word that I did not know.  He then switched over to English and told me that I would be going back to Győr and would be serving with Elder Ure there as ZONE LEADER!!!  I was literally speechless.  I called Elder Ure right away and totally flipped out!  I just walked around for like 10 minutes just thinking it over.  I am so excited and am very humbled at the call; it makes me want to work even harder.  I am sad to be leaving Pécs but know that this is what I need to be doing and that people in Győr are ready for the Gospel.  I am still in a bit of shock, however, haha.  Anyway, I will do a quick recap on the highlights of the week.  I had liver and pasta at a member's home for my birthday (it was super good).  We only were able to get 3 member present lessons this week but we got let in like 4 or 5 times which was cool.  The primary program was on my birthday and the kids did a really good job.  I will keep working hard and serving as hard as I possibly can!  I love you all so much and hope that you all have a great week!

Gentry Elder

 Service Project - Making Candles

 Pécs Christmas Square 

Elveszítettem a Hangomat :)

 

Hey everyone.  I hope all is well and that you all had an absolutely incredible week. It was a very busy week but it was good.  We went on 2 splits this last week (one we went to a city called Dunaújváros with the Zone leaders and the other split we stayed in Pécs and the Elders from Kaposvár came to us).  Dunaújváros used to be a city that was totally run by Stalin (used to be called Stalinújváros which means Stalin’s New City) so it is like totally a communist style city and not the most beautiful to say the least. We went there on Tuesday and that is the day I lost my voice.  Last email I think that I mentioned that I was fighting a nasty cold, well, on Monday it made its way to my throat.  I did not think much of it and did my usual talking while tracting and streeting.  I talked to a bunch of people and by the end of the night, I knew that I was going to lose it.  I woke up on Tuesday and I kid you not, I could not talk.  It drove me flipping crazy.  It was the funniest thing though because I did not want to accept the fact that I could not talk so I just kept fighting it and talking to as many people as I could and needless to say I sounded hilarious and completely and totally wrecked my voice.  I was freaking out thought because had interviews with President on Friday and it was still gone when I woke up on Thursday morning.  I ended up calling Sister Szabadkai just to see if there was anything I could do to try to get it back by interviews the next day.  She told me that the biggest thing that I needed to do was not talk and how hard she knew that would be a very hard thing for me to do, haha.  I told her that I would try, but I will be honest, I did not obey her counsel entirely, haha.  We were on splits at the time and I was with Elder Lister from Fort Collins.  It was super funny.  We tracted into this guy that was a young father.  I had been talking in a very hushed voice and when this guy answered the door he told us that his kids were sleeping and that is why he was talking to us in a quiet voice.  I gave him our whole message in a whisper and I bet he did not even know that I was sick, haha.  We set up another meeting with them for this upcoming Tuesday.  Interviews came around and my voice came back to me but it was still a bit raspy.  It was good though.  This last transfer has been absolutely incredible.  The Lord has just been placing people in our path and it has been great!  I am hoping to stay here in Pécs, but I know the right thing will happen and I trust in the Lord.  Keep being the best family in the world!!!!

Gentry Elder

Elder Lister - from Fort Collins

Elder Jensen (BYU Swimmer)