Tuesday 27 June 2017

Week 10 in Kecskemét

Hi,

There are transfers this week and I am staying here in Kecskemét. My new companion will be Elder Allred. He came two groups after me and he is from Colorado. I went streeting with him on his first day in the country. He is a good guy and will be a good companion to work with. Elder Knight is going to Székesfehérvár and will serve there with Elder Dixon.

We met many church members this week and shared the first presidency message from the Liahona. One of them has a good samurai sword. Another one is an indexing pro and has indexed more than 10,000 records. He showed us how to do it and Elder Knight and I indexed a little bit. He said that not long ago he indexed a list of people who had been executed. Who said that indexing is boring?

We had a very good "four pillars" lesson with an investigator. They are prayer, scripture reading, going to church, and keeping the commandments. These four things uphold our testimonies and if one of the columns is missing or is not strong enough, then all may be over.

Week 9 in Kecskemét

Hi!

We had a very good week with many good programs, and of course I celebrated my birthday. So here I congratulate myself for turning 20!

On Wednesday the zone leaders came for a split. I was with Elder Hughes. First we had our district meeting and we made many role-playing games where missionaries had to find the concern of the investigator and solve it in two minutes. After that we baked cookies in the apartment and took them to our investigators and less-active members. In the evening, the four of us elders went to have ice cream in downtown because it was my first year anniversary in the country that day and Elder Knight and Elder Hughes had completed a year and a half in the mission.

Sunday 18 June 2017

Week 8 in Kecskemét

Hi,

First, this a 10-week transfer, so changes will be taking place in two weeks, on June 28. For that week our p-day will be on Tuesday instead of Monday.

There were not so many interesting things happening to us this week, but I’ll list some.

We baked a lot. I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and we brought some cookies to some of our investigators, less-active, and active members.

There is a néni (older lady) in the ward whom we are trying to activate. She has already come to church twice and it is good to see her returning to the path. The talks were very good on Sunday.

Saturday 10 June 2017

Halfway Through My Mission: A Letter to Family and Friends

May 25, 2017 (letter originally sent by regular mail)

Dear Family and Friends,

One year.  It's been a year since I've been serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's been a year of unforgettable experiences, little miracles, adventures, and learning.

I'm not much of a letter writer, but in this letter I'll attempt to tell you about some of the things I've learned and experienced on the mission. Hopefully this doesn't get too boring for you, but if it does, take a nap. I won't mind. And remember: this is just a hundredth part!

It seems like a long time ago that I left my family behind and boarded a plane to get to the MTC and the beautiful mountains of Utah. Time in the MTC just sped up and in three weeks I was done with the classroom study blocks and lessons, and was flying with my group to Hungary. There we were greeted by our mission president and his wife, and the Budapest missionaries—all of whom, by the way, knew that I was the elder Elder Gonzalez's brother (see the joke I made there!), but I of course was a greenie, didn't know who most of them were. Anyways, after a night in a hotel, I got my trainer and we headed up to my first city: Pécs.

Week 7 in Kecskemét

Hi all,

I had a wonderful week!

Among other things, on Thursday we went to visit an investigator and helped him pick cherries from his tree. It was a good program, I ate many fine cherries and we filled many buckets. I also bought BBQ Honey and Chili chicken seasoning and baked chicken wings, and it was quite good.

The other service opportunity this week was that we helped a member in a translation from Hungarian to English.

Friday 2 June 2017

Week 6 in Kecskemét

Hi!

My mission is halfway done!!! It's unbelievable that one year has passed already. But time moves fast! This last year was very good. I feel that I have learned and developed a lot. My relationship with Heavenly Father has strengthened and my testimony has increased. I made many good friends and had great experiences. I have seen many little miracles and I know the second year will be even better! Actually, I wrote a letter that I just sent by regular mail today that is about these things, but the letter is longer, of course.