2 wonderful years!!!
Monday, July 16, 2018
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
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
Monday, July 2, 2018
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
Thursday, June 21, 2018
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
Saturday, June 2, 2018
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
Thursday, May 17, 2018
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
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
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
Monday, April 16, 2018
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 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
Monday, April 9, 2018
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
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
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!
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!!
Friday, March 9, 2018
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
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