Probably the most successful week EVER!

Sziasztok!

Dang did this week go by fast or what? I hope everyone had a good one. Our week was weirdly successful and awesome. After months of praying so many good things have been happening and we don’t know what we did to deserve this but we are STOKED!!

Tuesday: We gave Melinda a bible for her birthday because she really wanted one! She cried and we cried and life was so happy. We finished the A Szabadulás Terve (the Plan of Salvation) with her and she really liked it. That always seems to be the lesson where people really start to get it. So cool to tell people about where we lived before with each other and with the Savior and with our Heavenly Father. It just all clicked for her and it was happy. Then we got to meet with Jozsef, a newer investigator and taught about prophets. This whole God thing is a really new idea to him, so we are moving slow but her really likes it! And then we got to visit a less active family out in Hodmezővásárhely (my favorite falu) and that was great too! When we went tracting, the front door to this huge building was just wide open (that never happens, you usually have to csengő all the people and ask them to let you in) so we were like wow this building must be the chosen one. Then the first door we knocked on was a lady named Ilona, and she freaked out when she saw us. She was jumping up and down and saying it was the best day of her life! Apparently she met with some missionaries before but somehow the meetings just stopped and she didn’t know why. But we came back for her!! She was like so amazed that we randomly picked her door. It was so cute. We set up to come back on Saturday because she was busy right then. Then we knocked on another door and it was a really nice bácsi and he took A Mormon Könyve! And then there was a random toilet in the middle of the hallway and then a lady yelled at us saying “Menyenek Franceba!” which literally translates to “Go to France!” People yell that at us all the time and it takes everything I have not to yell back, “Okay gladly!!” hahaha 🙂

Wednesday: We got to go up to Buda for splits…and I got to go with…SISTER WITHERS!! My momma!!! (trainer) it was so fun and it just felt so natural! I loved catching up with her and she kept saying that I have improved my missionary skills so much and the language and everything, so now I’m feeling a little more confident. We went chalking all together and they designated me as the chalk writer because they all for some crazy reason thought I was artsy haha! We just wrote “Miért fontos a család?” or “Why is family important?” and then stopped everyone and asked them all that question. We actually got a ton of success and it was really fun!

Thursday: The best zone training! It was all about finding. At first I was like ugh really?? finding?? Talk about a boring subject! But by the end I was so pumped up to go tracting and streeting and talk to EVERYONE about this amazing message. I realized how blessed we are to be able to go finding in the country (with all the recent things that have been going on with missionaries in Russia) and I don’t know, I guess my attitude about it was just flipped completely around. It was great! Then tracting that night we were so pumped and we gave away another book! The lady that we tracted into said that she wasn’t interested, but then her cat got out and my companion was playing with it. I felt like I needed to ask her about her religious background and stuff and I actually got the courage to do it! Usually I have a really hard time talking to people because a lot of people have said really mean things to me about how I speak the language so it is really hard for me to open my mouth, especially in situations like that where she had already told me she wasn’t interested. She explained that she was Roman Catholic and I asked her why God is important to her. She proceeded to say she didn’t believe in God and then I was a little confused haha but I told her all about how the Book of Mormon is why I know that there is a God, and it is the reason I come closer to Him every day. And she took the book and we got her contact information! What the heck? I followed the spirit and look what happens when you do that! Miracles haha 🙂

Friday: There was a Relief Society baking activity that we stopped in on and that was pretty fun.

Saturday: District meeting! And then we went to visit a new 18 year old investigator, Bence. He is super cool! He is Refomatus but goes to a Katalikus high school. And he loved the Plan of Salvation that we taught him! That lesson is gold. Then we were bummed because a lesson cancelled…and then we went to go meet Ilona (the lady we tracted into) and she wasn’t home either so we were like double bummed. But then we just decided to stay in that building and continue tracting. Guys, God has a plan! We were so bummed that our lessons didn’t work out but it worked out for the better because this was MIRACLE tracting! The second door we knock on is a lady named Piroska and she wasn’t interested. I did the thing where I just asked her about her background and stuff, and she was like where are you guys from?? When we told her that we are from America, she called to someone back in the house saying that he needed to come talk to us because he would be able to understand us Americans better. And then I see Jozsef’s head pop around the corner. WHAT!?!? We tracted into our own investigator. It wasn’t his house but he was over and then ended up inviting us in and we got to teach his friend Piroska about the restoration of Jesus Christ’s church. If we would have just left when she first said she wasn’t interested then we would never have known about her! And if Ilona had been home and our lessons hadn’t cancelled, then Jozsef would not have been at her house and she would not have let us in. I don’t know, I just know that there are NO coincidences. Now she is our new investigator and we are going to go meet with her tomorrow again. Then just down the hallway another lady said she was really interested and that we need to come back tomorrow night because she was on her way out the door. What in the world you guys!!!!! I try to be positive but you need to know that I have never once gotten a new investigator from tracting, and I could count on one hand how many times that I have been let into a house. Miracles everywhere this week!!!!!!

Sunday: We went to visit Melinda again, and at the end of the lesson we asked if there is anything that we could help her with. She just sat there for a second and looked at us and softly said, “Well, I would really like to be baptized…” WHAT!? We just hugged her and said we would talk about that tomorrow. Pray for us please! Then we went tracting and people we getting really cranky at us over the csengő saying “Are you kidding me? NO I am NOT interested! It is 8 o’clock on a Sunday night, please go home!!!” But we were not ready to give up. Then the coolest bácsi let us into the building and was like well I can’t talk right now but here is my phone number and all of my information and please, please, please come back on Wednesday at 11! WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!! I don’t know what’s happening but Szeged is blowing up with work right now!! And I couldn’t be more excited about it!

Randoms:

This week I was able to find both chocolate and bread that I can actually eat. AHHHHHHH happiness!!!! haha!!!!

An investigator András has a huge pile of books by his front door that he always lets us look through before we leave. I found a French college book from the 1960s all in French and I understood almost every word!! It isn’t as gone as I thought it was!!!!! I was really, really excited about it because I thought I had forgotten everything.

Well I am so sorry for the super long rambling email but this week was just too successful to be real. I know that God answers prayers. The key is that it is ALWAYS in His own timing. He hears your pleas and he knows every desire of your heart. We just need to learn how to ask and then be patient and willing to accept his will for us. It’s hard but I am learning how to do that too. Such a good skill to have 🙂

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

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