Elder Felipe Gonzalez's Missionary Blog: Weeks 16 and 17 in Kecskemét

(Week 16)

Hi!

This week we tried out a new finding method. Elder Allred can make origami birds and we wrote small messages on them like "you are wonderful," "prayer helps," or "God loves you." Then we went to the downtown area where we gave these paper birds to people. Many were glad to receive them and loved the messages. It was good to see people smile. We still have to work a bit on this finding method to start longer conversations (like writing questions on the birds), but it's a good start.

We had a sports day and young people came from the branch. We played basketball, soccer, badminton, and tossing an American football around. There was also a sprinkler and it was very good to run over it.

We had a zone conference this week in Pest. My favourite part was when we read stories from the scriptures when people believed and trusted in God regardless of the consequences.

There is a young woman here in Kecskemét who is serving a mini mission with the sisters, and she can't speak English, so the district meetings are held in Hungarian - which is interesting but good.

This week the hot weather continued, with the temperature often reaching 40°C. So I took many cold showers and ate ice cream. Fortunately, last night there was a big storm, so the air cooled a bit.

Be good!

Elder Gonzalez

(Week 17)

Hi!

I'm glad your vacation to the east coast went very well! My week was not as interesting as yours, but I will give a report anyways. :)

We currently have a very interesting investigator. He is a good man, but has strange theories. For example, he believes angels visit him and talk to him, and that Jesus has given him strength to heal people. During one of our lessons, we read from Section 129 of the Doctrine and Covenants which is about angels (read it!). We instructed him that when he has another "vision," he must shake hands with the personage he sees. He welcomed this advice and I think he was grateful that we talked to him about the angels instead of dismissing or belittling him.

We met a returning church member in Nagykőrös, a town north of Kecskemét. It's a very nice little place with a pretty downtown. After our program, we went for ice cream and got a huge scoop for 200 forints, which is the standard price everywhere else.

We had another program with László at the Arboretum where we talked about our religion and the Catholic religion. He has known the church since the 90's and he is nice, but be believes in virtually all religions. But it was good to go with him to the Arboretum. It is good to be outside in nature, give an opportunity to think and turn to God. No wonder Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ in a forest.

Besides him, there is another older man who always comes to church (not a member), and a couple of weeks ago when we talked, I mentioned that there I have Székely ancestors and he said that he is also of Székely descent. So now we always call each other "Székely brother". :)

All the best,

Elder Gonzalez