2 wonderful years!!!

The last one....

These last 2 years have been absolutely incredible and life changing!  I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve the people of this amazing country and am so incredibly honored to have been a tool in Heavenly Father's hands over the course of these last two years!  This work is truly so amazing!  

It was a good last week in Hungary!  On Tuesday we went up to Budapest for a, "Meet the President," meeting.  President and Sister Hettinger are remarkable people that are full of energy and are truly called of God to be leading us at this time.  They have already incorporated some new things that we have been applying and have truly been seeing miracles from.  Although I really miss the Szabadkais, I fully support and sustain the Hettingers as the new mission presidents of the Hungary Romania, Budapest mission.  

We were able to see a miracle on Tuesday night as we felt promoted to go and tract on a street not too far away from our apartment.  We were able to tract into a woman named Barbi, who at 1st was hesitant, but after bearing testimony of the doctrine of Christ, let us into her yard where we taught her and two other families (who had come from Romania, but spoke Hungarian) the message of the Restoration.  We set up for a couple days later and when we returned, we brought our branch mission leader, Brother Füredi, who has known Barbi since childhood!  We were able to teach her and one of the other families about the Plan of Salvation.  

The investigators are doing well.  János was able to read from the Book of Mormon as well as Alajos and Endre.  We were able to have Mária in church and were also able to have Tamás from our part member family we have been teaching.   We also had a potential investigator come to church by the name of József, who we will be meeting with tonight, he seems prepared.   I was able to speak in church this past Sunday!  I spoke about the need to follow the prophet in these the latter days and how if we live according to the gospel we can truly be happy.  I spoke about how President Nelson is really emphasizing 1. The Book of Mormon 2. Temple and family history work (making time for it) 3. Receiving personal revelation 4. The importance of ministering.  

We were able to take part in a huge miracle yesterday (more than one actually).  We were doing companionship study in a local park and I saw this girl walk by and felt impressed to speak with her.  She invited us over that very day and we met with her, her dad, and her little brother.  The girls name in Dorina although it did not really interest her dad and bro, it really interested her and we set up to meet again.  After that, we got a let in to a man named László who lost his wife.  We testified of God and His plan and set up again.  We found an additional 10 potential investigators and were able to help a member put together a cabinet for his sister in law who is not a member but might want to start investigating, we did not plan it, but the Lord lead us to them.

I know with all of my heart that this is the work of Almighty God.  He is truly at the helm and if we turn to Him constantly and live according to His commandments and His Gospel He will ALWAYS provide and we will experience pure joy!  I know that my Redeemer lives and I know that through his grace weak things can be made strengths and that we can stand spotless before Him at the last day.   The Book of Mormon is true and is truly the most correct of ANY book on earth, and this is truly the church of Jesus Christ restored in these the Latter Days!   I love this work so much! I love you all so much and am so grateful for you! 

See you soon, 

Gentry elder 

Miracles, miracles, miracles!

We were able to have a lot of miracles take place this past week as my title implies!  We had a really amazing start to the week, as we had President and Sister Szabadkai make the trip down to Pápa on Tuesday, in order to take us out to lunch and say an official goodbye.  I truly do love them so much and I am so honored to have been able to serve with and learn from them!  They are truly wonderful!  

We were able to go on a really amazing daily exchange with our district leader Elder Jameson and his companion, Elder Seeley.  The exchange took place here in Pápa and it was a really an exchange full of miracles. I was with Elder Jameson and I felt an impression to go and tract a nearby 2 to 3 story building (mind you that I listened to President Uchtdorf's talk about the 4th floor last door that very morning). We started to tract and no one was really  interested. On the last door we knocked on, however, a miracle happened.  We were let into by  two young parents to 2 really adorable young children.  We were able to teach and testify of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and it was really a good experience!  These people are SO prepared and one of them had just weeks before had a conversation with an LDS man in, I think, Italy.  We are going back tomorrow. In that very building we met a man who told us we could come back the following morning.  We came back and were able to meet with him and his wife.  They are the parents of two really cute little boys.  We testified of the Book of Mormon and how the Gospel truly blesses families.  They really seemed to like it and we set up again.

We were also able to have a miracle take place as we were meeting with another woman.  She is going through some hard times in her life and we were able to bring the Elder's quorum president.  He worked with her for a long time at the same work place and they got along great (we did not know that beforehand). We were also able to find another new investigator.  We met twice with her and after the second meeting, we tracted into her aunt and found out that just earlier that day she had been telling her about the church, so amazing! 

We were able to have an investigator in church once again and the Lord keeps honoring us so much!  I love you all so much, have a great week!! 

Gentry elder

  

It was a great week! Post Date June 25, 2018

We were able to have a wonderful exchange this past week with the Zone Leaders from Győr.  I was able to serve with Elder Pulsipher and we were able to get some really great work done.  We were able to have a few teachings (members helped in every one) and we were able to get let in to a nice family.  We were able to also find some good potential investigators as well.  

We were able to find a couple of new investigators this past week! One was a sister that we found through tracting.  She is a single mother of two and she met with the missionaries about 20 years ago as a teenage girl!  We were able to meet with her the following day after we met her and we brought the district president, President Szür.  The lesson went well and we spoke about the Plan of Salvation and bore testimony about how much these things have helped us in our lives!  We were going to meet tonight, but she cancelled, hopefully we can meet soon!  We also met a new family, first with the father.  We spoke about many of the fundamentals of the gospel.  We spoke outside his door, but then he let us in to meet his girlfriend/wife (not sure) and there 5 month old baby.  They are soldiers and are very kind.  

We were able to meet with another investigator (an older woman) and it went really well.  She was able to come to church again and stayed for Sunday school.  We had a great meeting with another investigator/part member family.    We spoke about the Book of Mormon and the member that helped bore really powerful testimony.  They are doing well!  The Lord is honoring us so much and I am so glad to be a missionary!  I love you all and will finish strong!  

Gentry elder 

It was a good week in the city of Pápa!

So as the title says, it was a good week this past week!  It was able to rain a lot this past week which is totally fine by me, it really cooled things down which was really awesome.  We were able to work despite the rain and the Lord honored us for it!  

So with regards to Rómeó, we have good news and bad news as well.  The good news is that we were able to meet with him.  He is doing really well, just a bit overwhelmed with his deployment to Afghanistan coming up. He told us in our meeting that he still had the goal of getting baptized before he went out, which he originally thought was going to be late July or August.  He called us, however, on Friday night and informed us that he is actually going to be heading out this Friday.  We were pretty bummed but we know that he is going to be baptized, just going to have to wait until he comes back from his trip.  

We were able to have 4 investigators in church which was really awesome to see.  We were able to have our investigator family there.  It looked as though they enjoyed it, they just stayed for sacrament meeting, and the best part was that the members were able to fellowship them.  We will be visiting with them on Tuesday.  We were able to have another investigator there who is a very nice older woman that we have now met with twice.  She really seemed to enjoy it, and we met with her the day before with the branch president, President Bauer. He was also Catholic and was a big help in the lesson.  We were also able to have another of our investigators there with his mom who is a member. We met with them yesterday night and were able to speak about the Book of Mormon, we also read with them from 1 Nephi as they had not really been able to read much.  In church, I translated for a senior missionary named Elder Ommen, as he gave his talk in sacrament meeting.  After church, we had two other senior missionaries there who had a presentation on the new audit system for the church.  I was able to translate in that meeting as well, the gift of tongues is real!  

We were able to find 2 new investigators this past week.  One is named TODD!!  I KNOW RIGHT! Our meeting with him was really great, we were able get let into his home on a rainy night.  He works for the US military here in Hungary and lives here with his girl friend.  We also met with Éva, the girlfriend of our investigator János.  We spoke of the plan of Salvation and she told us that from the time we started meeting with János, there is a different feeling in their home, we testified it was the spirit, who leads us to find the truth! 

We also were able to meet with our investigators Ferenc and Vere, they don't really want to meet anymore though, and we also were able to meet with our investigator Zsuzsi and her son Dávid, our branch president also helped us with those.  The spirit was so strong in the 1st meeting with Zsuszi as we spoke about the 1st vision.  They were not able to come to church but we hope this week they will come.

This work is amazing the Lord is honoring us daily! I love this work and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Gentry elder

It was a solid week! Post from June 11

Hello my absolutely amazing family.  As the title of the email says, it was a pretty good week!  We were able to have Zone Conference this past week, which was really spectacular!  We were able speak about how to work with the members and how to get them more involved in missionary work.  We were also able to speak about unity and president did a really amazing job speaking about that, he spoke about how if we are successful in living the gospel, then naturally we will develop skills that help us with worldly pursuits as well.  We also spoke about one of my favorite topics, that being obedience, and how obedience brings so many blessings! I was also able to give my departing testimony and hear the Szabadkais give theirs as well! 

With regards to Rómeó, he had to travel this week to Germany which means that we are having to postpone his baptism.  He is going to be a great member, I really know that, it is just going to have to be a bit more in the future.  We were able to run into him on the street yesterday and it was good to be able to catch up.  

We were able to find 4 new investigators this past week!  On Monday night, we were able to tract into this man named János.  He is not incredibly religious but he really has tried to do what is good but has felt like he has only gotten bad in return.  We were able to testify of the Plan of Salvation and that according to this plan, we can obtain perspective and every thing that happens can be for our gain.  We testified that this was the joy he was looking for and that this would bring him happiness.  We returned and met with his mom who was also interested in hearing more, it seems like they have potential.  We also tracted into a man named József and his girl friend Kati.  We testified of the Restoration and how truth had been brought back to the earth again.  They seemed to really like it, we are going to be returning tomorrow.  

We were able to speak about the Plan of Salvation with our investigators named Endre, Anna, and András.  The Lessons went well, however, none of them were able to come to church.  We were able to have our investigator Tamás in church.  He is 14 and is from a part member family, he has not been to church for 3 months up to this point.  We felt as prompting to stop by their home and we spoke about the Restoration with him, went really well.   

The Lord is honoring us so much, I love this work and I love my Savior, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  Love you all so much and have a great week! 

Gentry elder

Amazing Week!

So I would definitely have to say that the highlight of this week is Romeo!  Romeo was found by the sisters but was given over to us when we found out that he lives in our area.   He is a soldier for the U.S. army (he is Hungarian) and he loves our country so so so much!  He has fallen in love with the gospel.  Romeo is one of the most goal oriented people that I have met and he really loves how we are so into living such a high law of righteousness in our church.  He is literally so amazing and the most amazing part is that he is going to be getting baptized on the 16th of June.  This is absolutely so amazing and one of the biggest miracles of my mission.  The Lord keeps placing these people in our path who are so ready! 

We were able to do some good finding this week and were able to find 7 new investigators!  The Lord has been honoring us so much and we have been talking to as many people as we can and have been striving to really really effectively use our time!  One of these new investigators is a woman by the name of Gizella.  I actually heard her talking on a train (we were some of the only people on the car) and I felt like should talk to her.  She was not interested then, but we later tracted into her and set up to come back, there are not coincidences in the work of Almighty God.  

I read this week in Helaman about the stripling warriors and how their mom's taught them to not doubt because God would deliver them.  I know that to be true and it reminded me of what my mom always teaches me! I love you all so much and have a wonderful week! 

Gentry elder 

It was a good week for us! Post from 5-28-2018

So we were able to have an absolutely amazing week and I am so honored to be serving in this amazing city with Elder Wrathall!  Elder Wrathall is sick right now, but he seems to be feeling better and we were able to give him a blessing yesterday.  We were able to go to a really cool art exhibit last week where we were able to see an art display from Picaso and were able to tour a really famous castle in Pápa. 

 The Lord keeps honoring us so much and I am so so grateful for all of the help He gives us on a daily basis.  We were able to find some really cool people this past week.  One of those people was the husband of someone we are already teaching.  We were able to talk about the Restoration with him and how much is has blessed our lives.  We were also able to invite them to come to church and they came!  They live really close to the branch house and we were able to walk with them to church!  I think they enjoyed it and I am really glad that we were able to invite them.  

We were also able to tract into a woman and her son.  We were able to quickly discuss the Restoration and were able to discuss the blessings we have received from it!  I think they really liked it and at the end of the lesson, the son said the closing prayer.  We were also able to find a family of a Mom and a Dad and a son with some learning disabilities.  We were able to find them on Monday or Tuesday night and Elder Wrathall and another missionary went back to teach them, they are also new investigators.  

We were able to have a really great exchange with the elders from Veszprém.  I was with my district leader, Elder Jameson, who's father is the head athletic trainer at the U.  He is really cool and it was fun to serve with him.  The Lord is honoring us so much and yesterday, this super cool guy named Romeo that the sisters found came to church.  It turns our that he lives in our area and that he is going to be meeting with us.  I know that if we do the things the Lord needs us to do we will be blessed beyond measure.  By the way if you want a great chapter to read in the Book of Mormon, Alma 37.  Love you!  

The Lord continues to honor us in Pápa! Post from 5-22-2018

Well the Lord is honoring us so much and I am so honored to be serving in this amazing city.  We were able to find 9 new investigators from the last time we emailed and the Sós family is on baptismal date.  These people in Pápa are so prepared and I am so honored to be here with Elder Wrathall.  

So with regards to the Sós family, we were felt that it would be best if we changed the areas a little bit because it made a lot more sense like that on the map.  The Sisters will be teaching them as they prepare for baptism on the 30th of June.

We were able to meet with many new investigators this week as I've already indicated along and we discussed a variety of doctrinal topics.  The people of this city are so prepared for us. 

The branch is really good.   I was able to speak in church and as I told dad I spoke about how it is absolutely essential to obtain a testimony in these days and how we get a testimony by 1. desiring, humbling ourselves before God, and repenting daily.  2. Filling our lives with the small and simple things that bring the spirit 3. serving in the church and obedience 4. sharing our testimony frequently.  

I love you so much!  Have an amazing week!!!!

Gentry elder

Family and Office Staff Pictures from Buda

These were some pictures that Elder Gentry had sent from Buda that hadn't been posted yet.

Pápa, the land of miracles!

Hello amazing family!  It was so great to be able to talk to all of you yesterday!  You all bring so much joy into my life and I am so grateful for you!  It was an amazing week!

So while I was still in Buda, we were able to pick up the new missionaries from the airport (4 sisters and one elder).  It was really great to be able to be with all of them and to be able to have an absolutely amazing dinner with the Szabadkais.  We were also able to go up to Buda castle and we read the dedicatory prayer.  Then Wednesday was transfers.  We were able to talk to some really amazing people on the train and were actually able to get a referral of a woman's daughter that we started to talk to on the train.  We were able to find some really solid potential investigators that night.  

The next day, we were able to go to the city of Veszprém for our district meeting!  Let's just say that that city is absolutely incredible, so beautiful!  While getting on the bus, we started talking to a family (a mom, Ágnes, and her 3 young kids).  The following day we were able to meet with them in the branch house and it was incredible. They have good faith in Jesus Christ and at the end of the lesson, the 12 year old boy said the closing prayer, we are going to be meeting with them tonight. We were also able to tract into this amazing family that moved here from Budapest like me!  It is mom, dad,and son.  They also have really strong faith and we related how they moved to how we lived with Heavenly Father before we came to earth and how He has given us a perfect plan on how to be successful.  We are going back tomorrow. We also tracted into a woman named who lost her husband so we spoke about the Plan of Salvation, we are returning tomorrow. We also tracted into a man named József and we also spoke about the Plan of Salvation, we are going back on Wednesday. The Lord is honoring us so much! I will send pics next week, I am just out of time right now.  I love you so much!  Have an amazing week!  

Gentry elder 

Zone Conference

It was a good ól week in Buda!

It was a good week this past week!  So we were able to meet with our part member family on Monday night.  It is a wonderful family of 5 and the dad is the only member.   We were able to talk about the Restoration and were able to show the Restoration film.   We were able to talk about baptism and were able to invite them to come to church, they were not able to come but hopefully in the future. 

We were able to go on two exchanges this past week!  Miskolc came here and I was with Elder Terry (he is from my group and it was fun to be able to work with him).  We were able to do some really good finding and we were able to meet with a few investigators.  We were able to put special focus on the Book of Mormon and were able to really strive to talk to everyone!  

We were also able to have exchanges with Pest.  I went across the river to the city of Pest.  I was with elder Durney from Colorado.  We were able to also make a special focus on the Book of Mormon and were able to see some miracles. We went tracting on the 1st day and I saw this girl walk into her apartment and had a feeling to go and knock on her door.  We told her we had a message of hope and she let us in without hesitation. She said she has been searching for God in her life and that she is super excited to meet.  The next day while tracting, on the last door we knocked, this 22 year old dude let us in that also seemed pretty interested.  It was really awesome to be able to work with elder Durney.  

We also had a really great MLC this past week where we were able to discuss diligence, effective studies, and Christlike leadership.  It was great!  I love you all so much, have a great week!!!

Love,

Gentry elder

Sok helyen voltunk az elmúlt héten!

It was a good and travel filled week as the email says!  It was really good and we were able to see lots of awesome places!  

On Tuesday, the east zone had a zone day and we were given the chance to be able to go from President Szabadkai.  We were able to go to Debrecen and were able to throw around the football, play some basketball, and watch some of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty before we had to go across the country to the beautiful land of Győr!  There I was with Elder Pulsipher and we did some good work.

On Wednesday, we met with one of our investigators  in Győr who is doing really well.  We spoke about the Brother of Jared and the faith he had to be able to ask the Lord for guidance after working to do everything he could to have the Lord open a door for him.  We spoke about how the Lord wants to reveal knowledge unto us, we need to increase our worthiness to be able to more deeply feel the influence of the spirit in our lives.  We gave him the commitment to pray for the things he needs to change in his life to better feel the spirit's confirmation that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration.  We also were able to meet with another one of our investigators, a husband and wife, who at first the husband was really opposed to meeting, however, when we presented the message of the Restoration in love, the Lord softened his heart and he became a new investigator.   

On Thursday we were able to have district meeting and meet with a new investigator who is from Japan and is going to school here, he found the church through the YSA.  We were also able to go to Szeged this week on Friday and Saturday.  We had 5 investigators in church on Sunday!  

Love you all so much and have a great week!

Gentry elder 

Jó volt a hetünk, Miskolcon voltunk!

We had a good week.  Last Monday was a work day and we tracted into two nice people that became new investigators.  We met with one of them yesterday and it went really well.  Brother Imreh helped us and we spoke about the Restoration and helped her move some chairs.

On Tuesday, we had preparation day and we were able to go to the Budapest Museum.  That night we started exchanges with the secretaries (I was with elder Allred from Colorado.  I told our investigators that I would not speak in English, és így volt, időnként egy kicsit beszéltem angolul, nem sokat 😊 if they obeyed the Word of Wisdom all week.  We also tracted into a nice old woman. 

On Wednesday, we met with other investigators and the Szabadkais came to the teaching as well.  It is always so great to be able to teach with them and hear their wonderful testimonies.  We spoke about the Book of Mormon, the Spirit, Joseph Smith, etc.  We asked them to be baptized and they said yes!  We are hoping for the beginning of May but we will see. 

We had a good Thursday (watched conference) and then on Friday and Saturday we went to Miskolc!  It was a good week!  I love you all so much!  Have a great week!! 

Az általános konferencia a legjobb! - post from April 2

Well it was sure a good week for us and the Lord honored us so much!  We were able to with some investigators on Monday night and we spoke about the Word of Wisdom.  It went really amazing and at the end of the lesson, we asked them that when they found out these things to be true if they would be baptized.  They said yes!  Later in the week, we were able to give a blessing of strength to be able to live according to the word of wisdom, it was a really spiritual and great experience!   

Right after the lesson on Monday night, we were able to do some tracting.  We prayed for direction on where we should go and the Lord led us to a building where on the second bell a young man came out and let us into his home.  The individual we met with is studying to be a faith teacher, I think at a religious school.  He really liked the things that we were able to teach him.  

We were also able to meet with this amazing new family that the member family the Váczys invited to church.  The couple is dating and they are really interested in the gospel.  We are going back tomorrow and we are going to be talking about baptism, we are really excited.  

We were blessed with a  wonderful meal on Friday and were able to be lead to two new investigators yesterday who seem pretty open to speak.  Last week we were also able to go on a daily exchange with the pest elders and the dunaújváros elders.  

The Lord has a prophet in our day and I am so grateful.  I love you so much! 

Quick conference recap…

I loved Elder Durrant's talk about family life at home (it made me think a lot about our home).  It was a great talk and overall a really amazing conference.  I received a very powerful and deep witness this weekend that President Nelson is truly a prophet of God and that if we heed his council we will be so blessed, I truly do love him and sustain him!  I was able to watch all of the sessions except the Sunday afternoon but I heard the change.  I think my favorite talks were the ones by President Nelson, Elder Oaks, the one about the sailor who saved the ship because he asked God not just to bless the ship but what he could do to help. I also really loved Elder Durrant's.  That is so cool that elder Gong and also elder Soares are in the 12. 

Hamarosan jön a húsvét! - Post from March 26

It was a really great week for us in Buda!  We were able to stay here for the week, however, we were actually able to go down to the wonderful city of Szeged to be able to hold a baptismal interview for a woman named Beáta who is getting baptized.  Other than that we were able to stay here and were able to do some good work in the city of Budapest.

On Monday we were able to meet with some of our investigators.  We together were able to read from the Book of Mosiah, where he talks about what we need to do to retain a remission of sins in chapter 4 (I love this part in the Book of Mormon so much, like you would always tell us mom it was their version of General Conference)!  It was a good spiritual lesson and they were able to come to church again, along with the lunch and Easter concert that was done after church.  It was a good experience, we are going to meet with them again tonight! 

On Tuesday we were able to find a new investigator.  She is from Portugal and we tracted into her.  She is actually here because she is on a Jewelry T.V. show and she spends two weeks here in Hungary and two weeks in Portugal.  She is from a Catholic background and she is really open to learn about our church and to read from the Book of Mormon.  

On Wednesday we were able to go on exchanges with the secretaries.  Before the exchange we were able to meet with another new investigator that lives on the street of the mission home.  We streeted her and set up with her and brought Csepai András to the lesson.  It is so cool because there are people prepared everywhere. We have most of our work right around our area and it does not matter how long missionaries have been here, we find those who are prepared each and every day.  We then went on the exchange and I was with Katics elder.  We were able to meet with some of our investigators and were able to speak about the Restoration.

On Friday we met with a new investigator that I met while tracting a little while back.  We set up this appointment and he let us right in.  On Saturday we felt like we needed to tract our own apartment and we got a new investigator that came to the Easter concert, along with another one of our neighbors.  People are prepared everywhere! 

I love you so much, have a wonderful week! 

Gentry elder 

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