June 27 Post - We are staying!!!

Hey amazing family!  Sounds like it was a really amazing week for you all and I am super glad to be able to here that!

So this week, Elder Fitzgerald and myself were able to take part in all of the Zone Conferences.  We were able to present a training in every conference on how to set meaningful goals and how to attack our mornings!  It went really well and I think that the missionaries liked it!  The main theme in the Zone Conferences was how to become better teachers.  One of the main things that was discussed was the importance of listening.  That is one thing that I have really tried to improve over the course of my mission.  Listening is hard and takes work.  It is so true though that if we do listen then we can relate whatever people say to the gospel and we will help them resolve their concerns through the amazing message of the restoration of the gospel.  They were super good! 

Because of Zone Conferences, it was a bit harder to meet with people this past week but we were still able to meet a few good people and do some good finding!   One of our investigators has actually been keeping in contact with the Sisters that serve in Salt Lake City (he chats with them on Mormon.org). Apparently, they have been teaching him a lot of really great things (like baptism) and he says he really loves speaking with them (they also call him). He is really progressing well and he loves the things that we are teaching him. He has been smoking less frequently and his goal right now is to get down to just 5 cigarettes per day. He believes everything and when talking about baptism, he said that he does not feel that he is fully clean right now (which is good that he realizes that). We have been teaching a lot about repentance and how to become clean and he really loves it. He is really doing well. 

We have also started teaching a really great family.  We tracted into them a few weeks ago on splits.  Well actually they were standing in the hall way of an apartment building and were preparing to go on a bike ride and I decided to talk to them.  The little son begged his parents to come to church and 2 weeks ago they were able to come. They were not able to come to church this past week, but we were able to meet with them this past Tuesday and it went really well. The son who is 8 years old is the one that is extremely interested. The mother is a non-practicing Reformist and the father believes in a higher power but is not sure what it is. We were able to teach about how God works with His children and the blessings that we have seen from this church in our lives. It went really well and I see great things happening with them in the future.

Transfers are happening this week and Elder Fitzgerald and I will be staying together and we are super excited!  Elder Fitzgerald is a great missionary and I have learned so much from him and will continue to learn a lot from him!  I am so grateful that I get to continue serving in this amazing city with the amazing people that we work with on a daily basis.  I am grateful that I get to keep being an assistant to President Szabadkai and will do my best to keep serving him!  Love you all so much and hope you have a great week! 

Gentry Elder

This transfer went way to fast!!!

Well like the title of the email says, this transfer is slowly coming to a close and it literally feels like it just began!  Buda life is great and the weather is getting hotter and hotter!  It is pretty humid but I am surviving (just constantly sweating, like literally like a constant flow, haha)!  I am excited to see what next transfer brings and the miracles we will see.

We are trying to make a push of firing up the ward members to be good missionaries and our ward mission leader is doing a really great job of trying to spread the fire of missionary work among all of the members. I think so much of it comes down to personal example and how much we as missionaries are striving to be the message. If the general ward members see that we (the missionaries) and the members that usually help the most with missionary work are happy and find so much joy and excitement in this work then they too will want to participate in this wonderful work of salvation. I have also seen that so much of it also comes down to personal conversion and how much we cherish this gospel. If we can constantly bear testimony to these members and emphasize the importance of it then they will come to feel the importance to make these things know to their friends and family.

It was a really good week for us. We were able to go on two great exchanges this past week. The first exchange was with Elder Robinson from Miskolc. We were able to work here in Buda and were able to focus on diligence (one of my favorite topics)! It went amazing and we were able to talk to almost every single person that God placed in our path. There was this one time where we got on a bus, quickly started talking to this lady who had met with the missionaries before, invited her to meet with us again, and got her number (all in one stop). Then we got off the bus and felt like we should talk to this lady standing right there. The bus was literally coming right behind us but she agreed to meet with us and gave us her number (in about 30 seconds). We were able to discuss how missionary work is like fishing and the longer you have your line in the water (outside talking to people) the more miracles you will see. God honored us so much! Then a couple days later we were able to go on exchanges with the Elders from Dunaújváros. I was able to work with Elder Terry on teaching for understanding and asking direct questions. We were able to do our best to associate the gospel to meet individual needs with people and were able to find many potential investigators. We also were able to have a really great teaching where we were able to resolve our investigator's concern with prayer through asking questions (I had her teach me how to pray and it worked well). 

We were able to have quite a few teachings this past week. One of the coolest parts of the week was when we were able to have two families come to church. The ironic part is that these families are not even investigators yet, but people we have been trying to set up with. One of the families was someone that we tracted into (a Dad, Mom, and son, and daughter). We did not even go inside to teach them, however, we invited them to church (after following up) and they came!  We have set up to meet with them this upcoming Tuesday. Then the other family was a former investigator along with his Mom and little brother. We have been trying so hard to set up a meeting with the son and it looks as if in the coming weeks he is going to be free. We are hoping to be able to also meet with his Mom and little brother.  And get this, the son had lived in Hershey Pennsylvania (Dad’s old mission) for a year with an LDS family which is how he 1st came into contact with the church!

We were able to meet with another of our investigator’s this past week. He is doing well, however, this week he is going into the hospital and it looks as if he is going to be there for the entire summer. We are going to do our best to drop in when we can. Another of our investigators is having a really hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. He came to church but we are going to have less frequent meetings with him. We gave him the Book, "Our Search for Happiness" and he read the first chapter and said he really liked it. We had a really amazing experience this past week when we were able to go and follow up on an extremely Protestant family. They invited us in and we were able to testify of how we came to know of these things for ourselves, the power of the atonement, the Restoration, and the Priesthood (they were especially interested in that). We set up to come back in a couple weeks and are very excited to see them keep progressing. 

We also had a zone day this week which was super awesome!  I was able to play some good basketball in the stake center and was impressed with by balling skills and my jumping abilities despite me being out for like a year now…haha (we do play like 3 times a week with the secretaries in the local park so that also helps to maintain the skills).

This week we have Zone Conferences for every Zone!  Elder Fitzgerald and I are giving a training in every exchange about the importance of attacking our day (especially the morning hours) and also how to set meaningful goals to end a daily exchange!  We had about 15 minutes to plan for it, but it actually turned out well.  I was uncontrollably sweating but it went well, haha!

Overall the work is great! We are doing are best to talk to as many people as the Lord puts into our path and our doing our best to retain those investigators that we already have and get them progressing toward baptism. I am so grateful for the mission experience and for the chance that I have to always invite others to come unto Christ (while learning and progressing and growing personally as well). I am so grateful that I get to serve here in this amazing country.  I am going to close with the last line that I sent to the missionaries in the weekly email (I think mom will like it): 

Our Spiritual thought today comes from the last lines of Rudyard Kipling's famous poem If.  It goes as follows, "If you can fill the unforgiving minute; With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run; Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it; And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!"  Elders and Sisters let us fill every single minute of our missions to the best of our abilities!  This is truly a marvelous work and a wonder and we have the chance to be full-time servants/participants in it!   There is no better work to be actively engaged in than the work of the Lord so let us not be wearing in well doing, press forward with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, and endure to the end!  

Love you all so much!! 

Gentry Elder

Majdnem egy evig!!!

How is it going my awesome family!  I hope that you have had a great week!  This email is going to be a bit shorter but I will include the highlights.  We were able to go on an exchange this last week with the elders from Szeged here in Buda.  It went super great and I was able to work with Elder Hughes (his parents just got called to be the mission Presidents in the Philippines, not sure what mission but it could be Kyle Taylor's which would be cool).  We were able to work on having the prayer of faith and also being the message (something that we are really focusing on in our mission right now, because we can send a message to people without even saying one word, it is just written on our face and our countenance). We were able to discuss how many times, the promptings we receive, come unnoticed to us but they come because we have prayed with faith and we are out working as hard as we can. Many times after we see the miracle then we realize that the Holy Ghost was guiding us along the way, however, many times I have seen that if we show the Lord our willingness to serve as hard as we can, then he will literally just lead and guide us if we have a constant prayer of faith. We were able to see many miracles on the course of the exchange, including one person calling us and asking us to meet right then and there (after trying to set up with this person for about 2 months). It was a great exchange.

We were able to meet with many of our investigators this past week who, for the most part, seem to be progressing and doing well. One of our biggest focuses right now is getting these people to come to church. Usually we have 2 in church per week, however, many more people commit to come throughout the week but just do not end up coming. We are focusing our efforts on really striving to increase contact with these people throughout the course of the week in order to ensure that when Sunday comes around they are planning on coming to church.  We were able to bake some cookies on Saturday night and take them to a few families and the next day some of them were able to come to church! 

Some of the things we discussed with investigators this week included how the natural man is an enemy to God. One man told us that one of the main reasons that he smokes is because he gets angry very quickly and that he does it as an outlet. We told him that both anger and this smoking addiction are natural man tendencies and that the best option is to rely on Christ and on His Infinite Atonement. He seemed to accept it really well and came to church this past Sunday. With another investigator we were able to tell him that the only way that he is going to know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is to read, pray, and sincerely want to know if it is true. He still wants to keep learning and meeting with us, however, I think we are going to less frequent our teachings with him coming up in the future, in order to get him to start to learning this is true on his own. Our plan with him right now is to give him the book Our Search for Happiness (one of my favorites) and read it alongside with him!  We also had a really great teaching with another of our new investigators.  She is Catholic and really wants to turn her life around. She asked us about baptism and we were able to explain authority and the Restoration and she told us that she would like to be baptized into the church. She told us that she has a smoking problem that she needs to quit, but that she wants to stop. We are excited to keep meeting with her. With another individual we talked about the commandments and how if we obey them, then God will immediately bless us (like King Benjamin says). We taught about the Word of Wisdom and about true repentance. He also has a very serious smoking addiction but he agreed that with God's help he can overcome it!

I was reading in the Conference Liahona about the Light of Christ and how every human being that is born upon the face of the earth is born with the light of Christ. In this talk, it was mentioned that all life forms are naturally drawn to light and opposed to darkness. I have come to see that so much over the course of my mission. When I feast upon the words of Christ and I give the opportunity to others to come and partake of the fruits of the gospel I feel this amazing light and come to feel the Holy Ghost. The gospel is so amazing and the joy and the peace I feel from it surpasses understanding. I am so grateful for the chance I have to live and love this gospel day to day and for the chance that I have to share it with others.  I have found that when we do our best and pray with faith, then the Lord will always provide!  I hope that you all have an amazing week!!  

Love,

Gentry Elder 

 Spot where President Nelson dedicated Hungary for the preaching of the gospel

 Streeting with Ronald Reagan

June 5 - It was sure a hot one this week!!!

Well it was a hot one this past week, but it was a really good one!  I want to start off with a scripture that president used in one of his emails that I really liked!  It says, "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing." (1 Peter 3:13-17)  I love this scripture and think it is especially applicable to missionary work and being examples of the believers in all that we do!  I have truly come to find out on my mission that if we suffer of God's sake then we can be happy even when others are mocking us or think that what we are doing is of no worth or of little value. I was reading in the scriptures this morning and I was in Mosiah 27 today about the conversion of Alma the Younger. In verse 31 it says that in the future every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess before Him (God) at the last day, and that all people are going to know that His judgements are just . I think having that perspective has helped me a lot on my mission in realizing that even though many people do not realize it, they too are children of a loving Heavenly Father and that it is our job to tell them that. Even though not all people are going to accept that knowledge in this life, it is our job to give them every chance that we possibly can, because in a future day everyone is going to know that Jesus is the Christ and they are going to know if we gave them the chance to accept that or not in this life. I love sharing this knowledge with those around me and it makes me even happier when those around me come to accept it as truth.

It was a good week for us here in Buda. We were able to go on exchanges with the Elders from Pest. I was able to work with Elder Leavitt here in Buda and it went really great!  When we go on exchanges, we always like to pick points of focus to work on an we were able to focus on getting member involvement in the work (something you all are great examples of). We were able to discuss how one of the best ways to get to the hearts of members is through being an example to them and through showing them your love and dedication to the gospel and to the work of salvation. We were able to discuss how many of the members that actively participate in missionary work are the ones that are the most converted themselves (because once we receive this amazing gospel, the thing we want to do is share it with other people) and how when we go and visit members (to have dinner or introduce ourselves) our main goal should be to increase their faith in this amazing work and get them more actively involved in finding those that are ready. I have really seen this with one of the recent converts here in Buda.  She is doing the very best she can to share the gospel with absolutely everybody! She is talking to people on the trains, at her work place, and all over. It is so amazing to see because it is a true indicator to me that she is really becoming converted!  She has us over for dinner once a week and just tells us about all her missionary experiences!

We were able to have many great gospel discussions this past week.  We were able to teach about the Restoration to one individual and were able to really focus on Gospel Dispensations and that God calls a prophet, and then the people reject him, and then he calls another one (and how the exact same thing happened with Joseph Smith). I think he is really starting to grasp it. He is a really big thinker and likes to come up with his own opinions on certain things, however, he always tells us that he is feeling something that he loves and that all of this new information is really pleasing to him. We are meeting with him tonight and are going to speak more about Baptism and the Priesthood authority behind it.

We were able to check in on one particular family that had some sickness that prevented them from coming to church and were able to give them a spiritual note. They were so happy to see us and really want to meet this week but they have some work conflicts that they need to figure out. They are doing well though and area making progress. We were also able to meet with our investigator from China this week and were able to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She really liked it and said that she really wants to come to church this next week. She really feels good when we meet and loves learning about all of these things. We also met with some of our other investigators this week and they all seem to be doing very well.

I love this work and I love you all so much!  I want to finish with a quote from President that really stuck out to me this week.  He said that, "most often it is the bad habits in our lives that present the greatest obstacles to our progression!"  I really loved that and am so grateful for the chance I have to overcome my weaknesses and put off the natural man through the atonement!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

Gentry Elder

It's always good to be busy!

Hey everybody!  Like the title of the email says, it was a really busy week for us this past week but it was also an absolutely amazing week for us here in Buda! We were able to find 5 new investigators (one of which was a family from Turkey). We were able to meet with many people and the Lord just keeps placing those people that are ready for the accepting of the gospel in our path on a day to day basis! I am coming to realize more and more that if we open our mouths at all times and in all places then the Lord will continue to work miracles through us. I have found that when I work as hard as I can and then just work a little bit harder (like do something that I normally would not do like talk to someone while waiting for the light to turn green at a cross walk or talk to someone that is about to shut the door going into the apartment building) then that is the moment when the miracles tend to happen. President always says that we need to "go to the edge and fly" (it is based off a poem) and I have seen that so much (not just in my mission but in my life)! When we go to the edge and leave our comfort zones, that is when the Lord can work amazing miracles within us; we will fly!!

We were able to go on exchanges this past week with the secretaries and also the Elders from Dunaújváros. I was able to work with Elder Stephens (who was actually the secretary last week that was replaced with Elder Ballard from my group, like I said it has been a crazy week) and the exchange went really well! While finding, we were able to get many potential investigators and also got 2 let-ins resulting in 4 new investigators. The first let-in was amazing as the woman opened the door with a big smile and told us that she would love to hear our message but that she was going to be leaving soon. We told her that it would be a very quick message and that it would be very worth hearing. She then agreed to let us in after tidying up a bit. We taught a quick Restoration and set up to come back. Then we had a prompting that instead of going back for dinner, we needed to go and tract some more. So we followed the prompting and started tracting the next building over.  After ringing about 3 doors someone opened the front door to the apartment building without a word. We went up to the top floor and knocked the door. A smiling man quickly opened the door and we told him who we were. He told us he was from Turkey and that he was Muslim but that he totally respects Christians. We asked to come inside and he accepted. He was able to listen as well as his daughter and his wife. We testified about what we knew to be true, about a living prophet, God's plan for us, the Restoration of the Gospel and the joy and happiness we feel from day to day. They loved how much we were smiling and could feel the spirit! We agreed to set up again and went back a couple days ago (the 2nd lesson was also amazing)! We were also able to go on exchanges this past week with the Dunaújváros Elders. I was able to work with Elder Aardema and it went great! We were able to get many potential investigators as well as teach a referral we received from church head-quarters. One investigator even came to church the next day and he really loved that as well (we have set up two teachings for this upcoming week)! One of the things that we planned to focus on was following the spirit in all we do and we were able to see the spirit guiding us a lot especially when we were able to find a family in an apartment (right before they left for a bike ride) that is incredibly interested to have us come back and share a message. I am coming to realize more and more on my mission how the spirit works with us.  I used to think that the Spirit was something that was like this big profound thought or idea, and while there are times that it is like that, most of the time I have just seen that the spirit literally just guides us if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing (being good boys and good girls like Elder Bednar always says).  Many times it is just a simple thought to do something good for someone else (or to maybe put dinner a little later so that we could find a family prepared for the accepting of the gospel, I did not think it was a prompting at all at the time but I followed it because it seemed like the logical thing to do).  I have also really loved studying up on the fruits of the spirit (peace, calmness, understanding, simplicity, etc.), these are also how I have come to follow the spirit.  I heard a quote that like the devil is the author of complexity and the Holy Ghost is the author of simplicity (I thought that was interesting).  

We were able to have some really great other teachings this week as well. We were able to meet with one of our investigators and go over the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It went really well and he was able to listen and I think that he really felt the Spirit. He was able to read this past week and he also was able to come to church which he also enjoyed from what it looked like! We met with another investigator with whom we were able to speak about faith and repentance and how when we have faith in Jesus Christ we will want to repent and become clean and when we become clean and better we will come to know that this gospel is true! It went well and I think he is starting to hopefully see more of the big picture. The other Elders (we were on exchanges) met with another of our investigators and I heard that also went well. Unfortunately, they were not able to come to church but they are doing well.

We were able to meet with even another investigator and I thought that the teaching went really well and I thought that she really felt the spirit. We were able to finish it well and were able to schedule for the next day. She ended up having to cancel and then cancelled the teaching for the next day as well. She was also not able to come to church and we have not been able to get a hold of her to find out what happened. She was originally scheduled for baptism on the 10th of June and we will probably have to move it back, but we still feel that she can be ready this transfer. She just needs to make the full decision that she can be a great member and that she is willing to enter into the covenant of baptism and remain a full-active member for the rest of her life. I believe that she can do it and I know that in the long-run it is going to bless her life tremendously. We are going to keep praying and working hard to prepare her.  She is such a wonderful person.

It was a great week and I am looking forward to this one! I love you all tons and hope you have a great week!

Gentry Elder

A good normal work week! May 22nd

What is up everybody!  Like the title says, this past week was just like a pretty normal work week which was cool!  Last preparation day, we were able to go and get the car washed and filled up with gas (it took like a full hour though because the people that wash the car were not going the fastest, it was good though, just took out a lot of time from our preparation day).  On Tuesday we were able to go on exchanges with the Elders from Győr (but they were here in Buda, in a few weeks we will go and head over to Győr).  I was able to work with Elder Seamons and it went super great. We were able to meet with our amazing family that we found last week.  The father is the one that we spoke to on the bus and came to church last week and is doing really well and is progressing really quickly.  We were able to meet his girlfriend this last week who is also very nice. She is not as interested in religion as he is but I pray that with time she can see the amazing things that come from living the gospel and can realize how much this message can bless their amazing family.  They are planning to get married soon and he really would love to be baptized in the near future.  They have two really cute kids who are 4 years old and 4 months old.  I would love it if we could baptize them both and we will keep praying that her heart can be open to the things that we have to say and that she can be open to feeling the spirit.

We were able to have another investigator come to church yesterday which was really great to see (she is the one that we have planned to get baptized on the 10th of June).  Many of the members were able to come over and great her and I think that she had an uplifting experience.  The hardest part for her is being able to manage all of the work that she has going on.  She thinks that in the near future she is going to have more time, as the nursery where she works will be closing for a short time.   We think that she can be ready for her baptismal date on the 10th of June and really think that she can make a great member in the future.  We are hoping to be able to meet with her at least a couple of times this week and hope that she can have her baptismal interview on Saturday.  

We were also able to meet with another great investigator this past week.  He is doing well but we just need to make sure that he is actually interested in the gospel and just not in talking to two American missionaries about our church.  I know that he feels something, however, in order for those feelings to keep coming, we need to continue to focus on the doctrine and he needs to start living according to the commitments that we give him so that he can gain a personal witness for himself that these things are true.  We will keep working with him and are going to do our best to get him some really great fellow-shippers in the ward.  

We were able to have an amazing experience last night as we were doing some tracting and had a prompting to go and look up a family that said that we could come back another time.  We were able to act on the prompting and were able to look up the family.  About 3 or 4 weeks ago we were able to talk to the son who is 14 or 15 and he said to come back. 2 weeks-ago we came back and he said to come back again. So yesterday we went over and the son came and quickly opened the gate and the mother was so happy to see us.  They are from China and have been living here for about a year.  They are Buddhist but loved the idea that God calls prophets who we can follow, and if we follow them then we can be really happy and find safety and peace.  It was a really cool experience and the spirit was definitely present.  They are excited to have us come back next Sunday at 5 o'clock.

I love this work so much and the more I just lose myself in the service of others and try to do my best (and just trust in the Lord to help me out) the happier I become!  This is a gospel of simplicity and joy.  The formula is simple, if we do what is right and show the Lord that we are doing our best then he will continuously bless us!  I love being a missionary! 

Elder Gentry 

 Elder Roberts visiting - He trained Elder Ure and Elder Ure trained Elder Gentry

Elder Kearon is Amazing! May 15th

Ok so I am a little short on time so I am going to quickly go over the highlights of the week, however, there were a lot of them.  It was so amazing seeing everyone on Skype and speaking with you!

To start, Elder Kearon was here from Tuesday night until Friday morning and it was absolutely incredible.  So how it worked was that on Wednesday was the Budapest and Southeast Zones and then on the next day it was all of the other 3 zones. We were able to go to both of them (I was able to conduct the one on Thursday) and they were amazing.  The biggest thing that I took away from it was that in order to touch the hearts of the children of men through the message of the restored gospel, we need to first become he message ourselves and present it in a way that will give people something that they want in their lives. I came to the realization this last week that when I do not worry so much about how I am sounding, what I am going to say, or if I am doing this work 100% correctly, but when I just approach everyone with a huge smile on my face and tell them with a calm assurance the things that the spirit wants me to say, everything goes so much better and I enjoy the work 10 times more (I don't know if that is possibly because I have always loved it more than words can express).  I also really took from it that as missionaries and from day to day we DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY SO MUCH, BUT JUST WORK HARD!  I love that so much and I am really trying to incorporate it into my work on a day to day basis (the Lord will always provide a way if we do our absolute best).  

OK so this story is so crazy awesome.  So in the Thursday zone conference, we had this really cool part when we were talking about how investigators feel when they are meeting with the missionaries and how the missionaries feel when they are in lessons.  Basically, what it came down to is the feelings are indescribable (see I think Philippians 4:7, I could be wrong, it is one of those that talks about that).  Right then Elder Kearon (who has a view of the front door leading into the branch house) exclaims "there is someone at the door, if he needs teaching give him teaching, go to it elders"!  Just then Elder Fitzgerald and myself shot out of our seats (along with 2 other missionaries) to go and see who this person was.  Come to find out it was our super cool investigator that had happened to show up to the branch house 1 1/2 hours before his teaching (there are no coincidences in the gospel, however).  We tell him to come back in just a bit and walk back into the conference.  Just then Elder Kearon goes, "well is he coming in?" and we said he is coming back later, then he said "just go bring him in now".  So we run back outside and tell him to come back in.  Our investigator speaks pretty good English but it is a little bit broken and he kept on saying, “very big privilege this is.” We take him in and he introduces himself to everyone (like 65 missionaries and Elder Kearon) and we sit down.  A few minutes go by and Elder Kearon asks him how he feels when he meets with us.  Our investigator literally said word for word what we had been describing that this feeling is indescribable and that it cannot be found in the catholic church!  It was so cool.  We met with him after and he is doing well, he just needs to fully accept the Book of Mormon and a living prophet and he will be all good! After that I was able to have an amazing interview with Elder Kearon and that is something I will not soon forget! Then on Friday we were able to have our missionary leadership council with Elder Kearon and that was also spectacular! 

One of the biggest miracles for us actually occurred yesterday during church. A few days ago we were traveling out to this teaching and were doing our best to speak to as many people as we possibly could on public transport. We were able to get on this bus and right when we got on, Elder Fitzgerald said that we needed to move to the back of the bus, and right when we did so, I had a prompting that I needed to speak to this man in his 30s standing right by us. It was a very quick conversation, but we told him who we were and that we had a message about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was very enthusiastic to meet and told us that he and his family would also maybe like to hear it. We also told him about church and he told us that he would want to come this week. On Sunday morning, I sent him a text message and asked him if he still would want to come to church. He told me that he was going to come but that he would be a little bit late. He eventually showed up at the end of the 2nd hour and he brought his mom and his 4 month old baby. He told us that over the previous week he had been doing quite a bit of research about us and that he absolutely loves what he has seen. He told us that the night before he watched the entire film "Meet the Mormons" and that he absolutely loved it. He told us that he has been looking for an environment where he could raise his child on great principles and he felt like this is the place he was looking for. We were able to teach him about the Restoration and he absolutely loved it. He told us that he felt like we needed to talk to him on the bus and that it was absolutely no coincidence that we met and that this is where he should be. We asked him if he would be baptized if he found these things to be true and he told us that he has already made up his mind that he would like to be very shortly (in 3-4 weeks). We set up to go to his home this Tuesday and we are excited to teach him more!
Our baptismal commit came to church which was great to see. She told us that her work place is going to be closing and that because of that she should also have more time to come to church. We have the confidence that she can be ready for baptism by the 10th of June and that the Lord is going to keep making it possible for her. We are going to try to start meeting with her on a more consistent basis and are going to do our best to help her gain a very strong witness that these things are very true.
It was a really great week and the work here is definitely moving forward. This is the Lord's work and I am so honored to be his servant here in this country!  I know I am on the Lord's errand and there is no better feeling!  

Love you all so much and it was amazing to see you all on skype!  Happy Mother's Day mom!! 

 Gentry Elder