Best Birthday Week Ever!!!!

Hellósztok!

I got even more birthday love today when I opened my email and I am happy as can be! It took me a while… but I am seriously getting to the point where I just LOVE every second of my mission. Honestly, the bad times as much as the good. Just happy as a clam over here in Szeged. Couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now! Blessed blessed blessed.

This week:

Tuesday: We had no lessons so we decided to do some surprise member visits! And the people we decided to visit were all in a hard place that day because of sickness or family stuff… amazing how the spirit guides us directly to the people that need a little sunshine!

Wednesday: We got to go to Budapest (MOST MAGICAL CITY) for zone training! The Howells were so kind to give us a ride so we didn’t have to catch a really super early train. The training was all about preparing people for baptism and of course we were very uplifted after wards. Got to see all my old companions!!!!! Then I got to see my best friend in the whole entire world, Gertsch Nővér! We haven’t seen each other for like months, so our elders were making so much fun of our squealing and hugs. But we were so happy! And I got probably my most favorite birthday present of my whole life from her, she made the cutest little notebook of happy reminders and quotes and pictures of us in it and I was the happiest! I have the best best friend. The people I have met on the mission will ALWAYS have the most special place in my heart. The Hungarians, my mission president and his wife, my companions and all the other elders and sisters I get to serve around. They all just have a way of making you feel like the most special person in the world! When we got home from Budapest we went tracting and had the sickest let in!!! His name is Csaba (chah-bah) and he wants to keep meeting with us! woot woot new investigator! Feeling blessed.

Thursday: District meeting about using the scriptures more often in our teachings and then angol óra. The szokás.

(favorite little ward members Klaudia and Izabella that we ran into while tracting)

Friday: We had a fun Relief Society activity where we made lecsó spreads and padlizsan krém (I literally don’t know whats it is in English. Eggplant!? Is that what its called? Sounds really weird to me but I think that’s what it is haha) and we also made a really good tök és alma smoothie! (Pumpkin and apple). Then we had a really good language study with Judit! She is so helpful its unreal.

Saturday: Meet the Mormons night! Everyone gave out their Book of Mormons to their friends which was really awesome. The movie night was kind of a bust because it was at a bad time, but we were uplifted by it and all is well in Zion. Then we saw a really cool group of people singing awesome Hungarian songs in the belváros so we stopped and listed for a little, persze.

(translates to “What really counts is what you can’t see”)

Sunday: My 20th birthday! aka the best day ever. I got to open my birthday package! THANK YOU FAMILY YOU ARE THE BEST! happy happy. The singing card killed me and I must have listened to it 50 times. I was dying so hard of laughter and I felt myself so well. The elders attacked me with notes at church. They handed them out to the members to give to me and every couple of minutes I would be handed a random flashcard that said something really nice of funny about me. Again I felt way too loved it was ridiculous! I ended the day with a million little notes and a lot of laughs. An investigator gave me the cutest birthday mug with a cat on it and I got so many hugs and Judit wrote me a poem and my comp wrote me the funniest rap and it was the best day ever. Again I love these people so stinking much! jaj.

(favorite ward member Kitti – we are Birthday twins!)

Monday: (not p day…) We went flower finding! It was my dream to buy a bouquet of flowers and hand them out to people in a park and tell them that God loves them. So we did it! Some people laughed and walked away without the flower… good to know people aren’t only rejecting the gospel. Usually though they would be weirded out and then turn quickly into a huge smile and be really happy! I love putting a smile on peoples faces! That was my favorite finding I’ve done.

Tuesday: (still not p day……) Longest day because we really really were in need of a pday but we made it! It was the Day of the Dead so no one could meet… so we just did a ton of area book work and then we went on a graveyard adventure at night! It was so stinking cool. There were so many candles everywhere and flowers and it was a little scary but mostly cool. Then when it was time to head home for the night we realized we missed the last bus and had to walk like an hour home… so we had a crazy adventure with our elders and it was a lot of fun!

So looking at all of those graves yesterday made me think a lot about the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that we are so blessed to have. So many people are just left to mourn and wonder what happens when a loved one dies. We can still be sad and miss people. But I am filled with so much peace knowing that there is another life. A perfect one filled with love from our families where we can live with our Heavenly father and Jesus Christ. I can’t imagine not knowing that.

Once again thank you so much for all the birthday love! I hope you all had a fabulous week. Make this one even better! Love you all so bad.

sok szeretettel,

Mason Nővér