Monday was a very special day for me. We went to Kalaznó and Hőgyész to look for the graves of my ancestors in cemeteries. We went by train from Kaposvár to Dombóvár. Then a bus took us to Hőgyész and another bus to Kalaznó for a total of 70 km. First we visited the Kalaznó cemetery and then the Hőgyész cemetery. I managed to find most names on the list that I had plus a lot of new ones! I was able to photograph great-grandma's house on Béke street.
There were many tombstones but I was successful in finding many names. I found about forty graves that probably belong to my ancestors! Some were missing the date of birth or death, but I also found many ancestors of whom I had not even heard before. There were also a few with photos on the tombstone. I am excited that my family will take these names to the Holy Temple to do the saving ordinances for them. This experience strengthened my testimony of temples and eternal families. These ancestors were people like us who also had successes and challenges. Unfortunately they were not able to learn about the restored gospel, but God loves us and gives everyone a second chance. So, now, as their offspring, we can perform the temple work for them so they can gain salvation. I am grateful for the plan of salvation and also for serving as a missionary in Hungary, the land of my ancestors.
On Wednesday we had a teaching appointment with an American investigator who lives in Bate. He used to work in the old American air base, and now teaches online courses. We talked a lot about the purpose of life and the conversation turned to the topic of temples. We shared many scriptures with him, including Isaiah's prophecy about the mountain of the Lord, to better explain why we build temples and what we do there.
Friday and Saturday we had splits with the zone leaders in Dunaújváros. I was with Elder Terry and we went knocking on doors. It was a good split and I learned a lot.
On Saturday night, the branch organized a musical and literary evening. Many people came and there were more nonmember than members! A large part of them came from the English class that we teach, and it was great to see them fully participating in a church activity. One man from the class sang a country song and it was quite good! At the end we elders played a "chubby bunny" game where we put as many marshmallows in our mouths as we could while reading from the book titled "Az Egri Csillágok" (Stars of Eger, 1899) by Géza Gárdonyi. The Hungarians loved the game and they also joined in for the next round of the game. One of them said that Géza Gárdonyi surely had turned in his grave to laugh. Haha
On Sunday we were invited to a member-family's home where they had also invited another family. King Benjamin's talk was the theme and to better understand, I compared King Benjamin to King Mátyás (Matthias Corvinus). We also played a bit of soccer with the children and we had a good afternoon.
Well, that's all from my week, and I wish you a nice one too!
Much love,
Elder González
 |
| Tomb of my great-grandmother's sister and her husband |
 |
| My great-grandmother used to live in this house many years ago. |
 |
| Summary of my findings |
No comments:
Post a Comment